Candy Shop
by Nanuri169
Summary: Two leaders - one sanctuary Alexis and Negan are what one would call winners of the apocalypse. Both are strong leaders of a thriving community. Both carry a signature weapon. While Alexis tries to keep her community together trying to stick to the last remaining values of humanity, Negan rules over his people with an iron grip. (Negan x OC)
1. chapter 1

Whenever Alexis felt the last bits of humanity vanish from inside her, she chose to put the old, worn out saddle on the back of her horse and simply ride out all on her own.

People called her stupid for choosing loneliness on her rides. They all thought that it was only a matter of time until someone would shoot, or even worse, caught her. But at least they still wanted her to come back.

Though, what they all feared never happened so far. Alexis knew the forest that surrounded her community inside out and her horse did as well. Still, sometimes she even asked herself why she had to put distance between her and her home from time to time, she was a leader after all. She chose all of this.

But then, when she felt the steady rhythm of the chestnut gelding's hooves, her own breath and the slight breeze in her hair, she knew why. For a moment, it didn't feel like the apocalypse anymore. She was just a girl on her horse, enjoying a nice ride in the untouched nature.

Then again, it was all an act. The sweet, innocent Alexis that loved horses for her whole life died on the day walkers started to eat people. Sometimes she was still holding to the last pieces of her former self, but at least she knew that it wasn't her true self anymore.

The bat that was leaned against her leather clad shoulder reminded her of it. When she saw the walker stumbling into the clearing she was just passing, the melancholy was pushed the edge of her mind. Her left hand held the reins, while her right clutched the long, smooth bat tightly and then the muscles in her legs tensed, giving her horse the sign to quicken his pace into canter. Bravely, he ran towards the creature, completely trusting his rider.

When the bat crushed into the already rotten head of the walker, Alexis felt this warm feeling running through her body and a savage smile spread on her face. She liked crushing heads with her bat. Of course she knew that it was sick, but she couldn't help it. This feeling of power, it was amazing.

Her head came back into focus when she noticed that the walker was completely on its own, which was a sign that it could have been a survivor. That could mean that it had something useful on it. She stopped and jumped down from her horse to quickly check for anything.

At first, she found a small knife on it, which was already more than the average walker carried with it. But when she roamed more closely, she found a paper in an inside pocket of its jacket. Quickly she unfolded it and scanned the numbers scribbled on it. Those were coordinates. Jackpot. Maybe its where the group of the now dead man hid its supplies. Following such leads was always a risk, but often they were worth it.

Alexis climbed into the saddle again. She had to go back home, this wasn't something she could do on her own.

Negan leaned his head back against the headrest of the truck and thrummed his fingers in the rhythm to the tunes of some Bon Jovi songs. One of his lackeys was driving the massive car and it annoyed the hell out of the Savior's leader that this one wasn't very talkative. It bored him shitless and this urge to bash Lucille into something struck him. Why didn't he take Simon with him? At least he wasn't too afraid to joke around with him. Well, someone had to be in charge while Negan himself was gone.

He would probably see a lot more fear in people's eyes when he was done with today's mission. Simon found him a community that they never had seen before. It made him wonder why. Usually some Saviors would find people from other places on scavenging trips, but the walls of this one they found just by coincidence.

And hell, Negan hated coincidences. They led to sneak attacks.

But he could see why they've stayed hidden for so long. The road leading there was narrow, leading straight through the woods and nature already had started to take the dirt road back. It didn't look like cars were passing here often.

An impressed expression rushed over Negan's face when the seemingly endless woods suddenly parted into open field. But not fully open. They were greeted by a high fence. Tarps were attached to it to cover what laid behind it from curious glances...If anyone even dared to cross the whole woods to this place. The group hadn't passed any herds on the way here, but surely there were some stray walkers around.

Negan hopped out of the truck and swung Lucille up to his shoulder, inspecting the massive gate that parted him from the big surprise of the day: what would they find behind it?

Two men with hand guns in their fists stood in front of them and Negan strolled towards them. They didn't make any attempts to aim their weapons at him, to his shock they didn't even eye Lucille strangely like everyone else did.

"We come in peace, dear Martians...at least if you welcome us with a beer."

His voice was booming as usual and he chuckled while he patted the shoulder of the guy to his right. He just gave him an annoyed look and shrugged his hand off. Oh, if he knew who he had in front of him...he wouldn't be that relaxed.

"I want to speak to the person in charge here."

Negan's smile faded a bit when he saw the humorless reaction of the guards.

"Our leader isn't here at the moment."

The guy's voice was monotonous, not giving away if he was lying or not. Maybe they were told to not let anyone in. Negan swaggered closer, entering the man's comfort zone and he could finally see that he was getting uncomfortable. Exactly what he wanted.

"Well, then we'll wait. Why aren't you being fucking nice hosts, let us in, and offer us tea?"

A long silence erupted and tension slowly seemed to built up. This could get quite violent in no time, they just had to mess with Negan's short patience a bit more.

"No."

The short man beside Negan said and suddenly, every gun around them was raised. While the Saviors aimed the guns at the guard's heads, the two hand guns were directed at the raven haired leader. They were heavily outnumbered by Negan's men, but still they were brave.

"Rude."

Negan hissed and was ready to give the sign to shoot the men. But suddenly, a sharp whistle sounded from behind them and the attention was drawn to the figure approaching them.

She literally came ridden on a high horse. Pitch black, messy hair hung around her pale doll face, but what was most striking were the huge, baby blue eyes. They were cold, void of any emotion and if the rest of her wouldn't have been that delicate, Negan would've been creeped out.

But what left all of their mouths hanging open was her overall appearance. Beside the aura of authority that radiated off her, she resembled someone that the Saviors knew all to well. For a moment Negan thought he was having a very wet dream, when he saw the black leather jacket that hugged her curves just in the right places and the bat leaned against her shoulder. It was just missing some barb wire.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the comfort of his bed and he had to keep his facade on to hide his own surprise. Quickly, he got himself together again and flashed his pearly white teeth while grinning widely.

Alexis stopped her horse and jumped to the ground. She had seen the trucks from afar and had the time to mentally prepare herself. But when she saw the guns raising, she knew that she had to intervene.

She had a faint clue of who was standing in front of her men, behaving like he was king. The girl had heard stories of him from people dropping by and while scavenging, she and some others had seen what was called the Sanctuary.

"Look, it's me with a pussy!"

He laughed, but no one shared his amusement. Not even his men. They all were still gaping at her, sometimes adverted their gazes between Alexis and their leader. She herself was a bit stunned by the similarity in their choice of clothing and weapon. Her bat was usually referred to as uncommon, so it was actually quite the coincidence that he carried it, too. For the blink of a second she inspected the barb wire wrapped around the head of the bat. That was quite the clever idea, it would leave more damage and looked way more intimidating. But it also would be quite gross to pick up walker remains from the tips.

When no reaction came from anyone, the tall man rolled his eyes and came closer to Alexis. His eyes darted towards her huge horse and she could see that there was the slightest of insecurity in his eyes when it came to get closer to the animal. Alexis bit her lower lip, hiding her smile.

"Darling, can you tell me who the fuck is in charge here?"

She grew fairly annoyed by his vulgar tongue, but she wouldn't let herself be provoked by that.

"Who's asking?"

Her voice was soft, her light British accent emphasizing its velvety tone. Alexis was good at reading people. Just by looking at him for less than a minute she figured that he was offended by her asking something back before answering. He probably wasn't used to it.

"I'm Negan. My pleasure."

"Alexis. I'm the leader of this community."

She held out her hand to him. The smile on his handsome features appeared again, but instead of shaking her hand, he lifted it up and kissed her knuckles, his lips lingering a while too long to be appropriate. How Alexis would've loved to break his jaw for this.

They were playing the same game. Provoking each other with disrespect until one of them would snap. But they both weren't used to loose a game.

"I don't have a freakin' idea if I should consider if it's possible that I had a daughter really long ago, or if I should find this hot."

For the first time in this encounter, Alexis couldn't help but chuckle.

"You're not that old, daddy."

The people behind Negan made a chocking sound, close between amusement and shock. They had no clue if Negan would bash her head in for this, or find this funny. Their answer came quick when Negan leaned his head back and laughed heartily. This quiet girl had some fire in her, he could see it clearly.

"You just made me like you. Why don't you let us in and carry this conversation on like civilized people?"

Alexis crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Oh, are we civilized? I'm sorry if I'm judging your motives by all the guerrillas you brought with you. Doesn't look that peaceful to me."

She motioned for the two dozen of men standing behind him. The young woman knew that if she made one wrong move here, the Saviors would kill her immediately and take over her community by force. But she knew exactly how to handle men like Negan.

"They're just here for my protection. Can't be sure what kind of stunts you hide between that nice fence of yours."

Of course she didn't make any attempt to let him in. Not yet. She had nothing to hide, but she needed to make him know that she wouldn't listen to his every command.

"Tell me what you want, Negan."

Her voice turned more cold, she was done with the fake politeness. Negan started to swing his bat by his side, the barb wire nearly scratching Alexis jacket, which made her guards obviously nervous, but she herself stood her ground.

"It's easy. We want you to find stuff for us and we'll leave you alone, happy and peachy. How does that sound?"

Alexis couldn't help but laugh right in his face. She didn't laugh often, but this was just too hilarious. Of course she knew that he was highly dangerous and judging from the look of his home, his community was huge. But seriously, what kind of braggadocios douche was he?

The tension rose up highly again and Negan came even closer to her, towering over her small frame, lips pressed into a thin line. She definitely pissed him off big time, but Alexis wasn't even the slightest bit afraid. Her piercing blue eyes stared up to his darker ones, not adverting her gaze for one second. Their leather jackets touched and for a moment, they just stayed like that, waiting for the other to submit. But they both were way too stubborn for that.

"I will consider your offer. I'll let you know how I'll decide. Let's say tomorrow, your place?"

She winked at him before turning around and grabbing the reins of her horse before walking through the gates that her guards slightly opened, leaving Negan standing.

But the biggest rarity was that Negan didn't attempt to kill her. He stared after the girl, admitting to himself that she left him stunned. After a moment of reconsidering his options he motioned for his men to get in the trucks and drive back home.

Hi guys! Thanks for reading this :) Bear with me, this is my first attempt on a TWD-fanfic. It's not even my main fandom, but I'm simply in love with Negan. Let me know if I'm catching his character correctly, because I seriously find it really hard :D


	2. Chapter 2

Alexis felt very uncomfortable riding down one of the main roads. She was used to complicated paths in the woods, where she could always disappear if someone was following her. But here she was exposed, on the open field, an easy target.

There was a more hidden way to the Sanctuary, but she was sure Negan had set people up to watch her and she didn't want to willingly hand him over possible escape routes before they made a deal.

After a long argument with her advisors and her bat damaging her table because she had to crash it into the wood to silence them all, she decided to come here alone. She didn't trust the leader of the Saviors one bit and she couldn't have people with her that dared to question her. The arrival of the much larger group at her community had brought rebellious voices up and Alexis probably had to silence some of them within the next few days.

She never punished for opinions. She didn't set up rules. But she had a problem with little dicks that tried to cause an uprising and didn't have the brain to bring arguments to their complaints. That was usually the way to silence them. Her people would see that she brought solutions to problems, while the others brought up problems with out solutions. Most of them already understood that surviving in this world brought sacrifices with it. As long as Alexis brought solutions with the smallest amount of added corpses, she would leader. If someone proved to be a more worthy leader, Alexis would leave without questioning it.

That probably was why people respected Alexis. She didn't force herself upon her community. The young woman left them a choice, they could get rid of her easily, but for as long as she made rational decisions, they were all ok with her making them.

When she saw the outline of the Sanctuary from afar, she couldn't help but be impressed. It was massive, the perfect place to give shelter to all those people. Negan may be a maniac, but he sure as hell must be intelligent enough to keep this mass in check.

A shiver ran down her spine when she saw the dead chained to the fence. Some were spiked through the torso, others still were intact and reached out for every flesh they could get. Even after all this time they still kind of scared her. It was hard to imagine that these things have been people once.

Alexis drew quite the attention onto her when she came into eyesight. The eyes of the people protecting the gate were on her and suddenly a dozen of people was pointing their guns onto her. She rolled her eyes and stopped her horse when they were in hearing distance.

They all haven't been between the crowd that came to her community yesterday. It seemed like they weren't properly briefed about her arrival, as their faces showed signs of confusions when they took her appearance in.

The leader always had attracted attention with her bat and the prominent leather jacket, combined with her cold, unemotional face and eyes that seemed to bore right into the soul. But the similarity to Negan seemed to enhance it.

"Good morning, gentlemen. Your leader awaits me."

Alexis pulled out her bat that was secured at the saddle and rested it against her shoulder, while the Saviors exchanged glances, probably not sure if this girl, all on her own, was a threat.

"Get off the horse."

She pulled up a perfectly shaped brow and shrugged, jumping down.

"Rude. Haven't your mums taught you any manners?"

On propose, she let her British accent sound heavily in her words, letting them seem even more arrogant and mocking.

Beside the hunting knife in the holster secured at her belt, she carried no seeable weapons. Alexis despised guns, she hated using them, so she usually didn't even have one with her. Most people considered her foolish for that, but well, she survived until now.

"...Well, you're going to let me in or not?"

She continued after the Saviors didn't make any efforts to reply. They probably had no clue what to do with her.

"Give us your weapons."

"Yeah, sure."

Alexis said sarcastically and suddenly they moved closer to her, the barrels of the guns nearly tipping her chin. But she still stayed calm, staring the person in front of her down with her piercing blue eyes, the amused smile never fading.

"Well, well, well, boys, is that a way to treat a lady?"

Suddenly, the booming, effortlessly loud voice of Negan came up from the gate. His men tensed and scattered backwards, immediately obeying their leader. There was fear visible in their eyes, to which Alexis raised a brow. But even Alexis noticed it: he had this aura, authority seemed written all over him and this frightening charisma made her understand how he could handle all of this. She was curious to find out more about this ways of leading his people.

"You should train your dogs better. They're quite feisty."

Negan laughed, but then finally motioned for her to step through the gate.

"You have some beach ball sized lady nuts, coming here all on your own, Lexi. I like that."

Again he was way too deep in her comfort zone, towering over her, every inch of him trying to convince her that he was so superior. Alexis smirked, but not because she found that funny.

"Call me that again and you'll see that lady nuts slit your throat."

They both chuckled, staring at each other for some time, both sliding back and forth over the line where this pissing contest could go over into sheer violence. It was obvious that Negan wasn't used to someone speaking to him like Alexis did, but he couldn't help but grow fond of that. There were less than a handful of people here that dared to joke around with him and not shiver in fear at the sight of him.

"What makes you think we won't fucking kill you right here and now?"

She poked his chest with her bat lightly tp push him backwards at arms length.

"Because you aren't stupid. You know my people won't be pleased if you kill me. And even though you know that you could erase us with ease, you know that hell a lot of people would die. Well, and people are the most important resource in this world, aren't they?"

Alexis knew that there was no sense in trying to outmatch him with anything. They had more of everything, she could only impress him by reasoning with logical arguments.

"I see we understand each other, doll."

He was pushing her buttons by giving her pet names, making her hand clench around her bat tightly, heavily annoyed by his disrespect.

Negan casually wrapped an arm around her shoulder and led her inside. But before she could shrug his arm off, a voice from behind them interrupted the uprising bickering.

"Don't you want us to disarm her, boss?"

Negan adverted his gaze from his lackey back to the woman beside him. He bit his lower lip, thinking, quickly scanning her body for weapons. Of course she carried some, but not even a gun which surprised him slightly.

"I think it's time to show some trust, right?"

"You're lucky, I was just plotting some shit with my best men. If I'm being honest, I wasn't sure if you'd really come."

Negan led Alexis through a dimly hallway. This place was even more impressive from the inside. The grey walls created a depressive mood, but aside from that it intimidated every person walking in here even further. It was quite cool in here and countless doors led away from the way. For unwanted intruders, this could be a damn maze.

"I'm a woman of my word."

He glanced at her.

"Not many left of them, right? The damn apocalypse turned everyone into freakin' liars."

"Are you a liar, Negan?"

She stopped and looked up to her. Negan again had to admit that he was baffled by those damn blue depths. Those truly could squeeze the truth out of everyone without using any physical violence.

"No, I'm not. Why would I lie to anyone? People believe in me, rely on me, so it's my fucking responsibility to be truthful and realistic."

I'm not a liar anymore. He added in his mind. That was something cutie here didn't have to know.

Alexis continued on her way, shortly distracted by thinking about what he said. Maybe they weren't so different. If she was honest, she thought the same way he did. They just executed it differently.

Whenever they passed people, they immediately stopped their conversations and dropped to their knees. Negan ignored it and just grinned proudly, his ego seeming to go through the roof whenever Alexis rose an eyebrow to the grotesque scene.

Did he really think he was some kind of higher force? Was he really such a control freak that made his people kneel in order to show him respect? Probably.

"I hope you don't expect me to ever kneel in front of you. Because I'd rather choke on the barb wire of your bat."

He licked his lips, ready to shoot the next profanity.

"Oh, but I would love to see you kneeling...and doing some other things."

Alexis shot him a glare, but the corners of her mouth lightly twitched upwards out of amusement. Negan came to a halt in front of a door close to the end of the hallway and opened it, motioning for her to get in first.

The room had a large, metal table in the middle, multiple stools placed around it. Four people were in here, curiously eyeing her. None of them had been with Negan yesterday.

"Lexi, those are Simon, Dwight, Arat and..."

Before he could mention the fourth name, Alexis shot around and suddenly punched him square in the jaw. Negan's head flipped to the side and guns were immediately pointed at her head. The silence was full of tension, Negan's people looking to their leader, as if seeking for permission to shoot her.

But Negan had different plans. He grabbed her by her shoulder and pressed her against the wall behind her, caging her by securing her wrists over her head, his hips and lean legs keeping her from moving an inch.

Not that Alexis intended to move. She found his outburst ridiculously funny. With ease she could've stabbed the knife in her sleeve in his hand and get free, but she didn't want to pick up a fight. He was beyond pissed, it was obvious.

"Out. Now!"

Negan bellowed at his four lackeys who hesitantly put away their guns and hurried out of the room, not happy about leaving their leader alone with this maniac chick.

"What the fuck was this, doll? Do you have no clue who you just punched? I've killed people for less."

He yelled right in her face, his eyebrows furrowed. Usually people must be frightened like hell by this look, but not Alexis. She would never show fear.

"I told you, I'm a woman of my word. And I said that I won't tolerate you calling me Lexi again. You're lucky that my goodwill runs deep enough to not make the original threat real."

Winking at him, she bit her lip to keep herself from chuckling. She poked that bear enough for today and she still had plenty of things to discuss with him that he won't like.

"I appreciate your guts, but I can't the fuck stand disrespect. Especially in front of my people."

She didn't answer anything and for a moment, they tried stared each other down. Staring contests probably were starting to be their thing. Sighing, Alexis tried to push him away.

"Can we finally discuss the matters I came here for, or do you want to continue to dry fuck me on this wall?"

Negan pulled away, glaring at her as he turned around, his hand stroking his beard as he tried to figure how to handle this girl.

"Well, I proposed my offer. It's your turn to put something on the table, sweetheart."

Lightly she rubbed her hurting wrists and leaned against the table, her legs crossed at the ankle casually.

"I want to forge an alliance with you. Our communities can work together, share, live as equals."

His booming laugh made anger rise bitterly up her throat, making her lips press together into a thin line.

"Share? Live as equals? You know, I find this damn cute, but seriously, how many people to you have? Forty?"

Alexis stood up straight, not in the mood for joking anymore.

"Fifty-eight to be precise. Negan, I don't know how you find humor in this, because I'm actually quite serious. You should see the advantages of it. If we follow your offer, my people will cause an uprising and probably make walker sushi out of me and well, how knows if the next leader will be as easy to handle as I am? Not only would you loose all the men power my people could provide, but they would take hell a lot of yours down with you."

He walked back towards her, his eyes again locking with hers.

"That sounds precisely like blackmail, Lexi."

Oh how she wanted to punch him again for this stupid nickname. But she knew that this time it wouldn't end well for her and her community if she did.

"Well, I'm just showing you the consequences. But instead, we could simply become friends. Think, Negan, more covered ground by people you can trust. My men are experienced in scavenging and planting crops, we even have a doctor. We can plan routes together, keep an eye on other communities. Give you shit you don't have, in return for things that you have plenty of. I want the best for our people, because I think we both agree on the fact that they are the most important piece of the puzzle."

The leader of the Saviors thought for a moment, tipping the tip of his bat against the wall beside him.

"Lucille, what do you think? I have no shitty clue if I can trust doll face."

He held the bat up and gently caressed the barbed wire.

"Your bat has a name?"

Cocking up a brow, she looked at him unbelievingly.

"Abso-fucking-lutely. Doesn't yours have one?"

"Um, no. Can we please switch back to the more important issue?"

Negan paced around the room and it started to drive Alexis crazy, but she knew that this was exactly what he wanted, so she kept herself together.

"And how should we do what you are asking of me?

She folded her arms in front of her chest, feeling his predatory gaze on her. It was a very dangerous right now. If she used the wrong words, if she went too far, he would probably struck her dead without blinking.

"We meet up every week, one week your place, the other mine, and discuss the matters important for our alliance. Of course with our advisors, if you want to. No hijacking, backstabbing or killing people. Because you have more people, you have the bigger say in this, but we still work together like friends. Doesn't that sound nice?"

This would be hard to convince her people of. They always weren't keen on working together with others and also Alexis would prefer to let it stay the old way, but this time it was their only chance. The Saviors would take everything they had by force if she didn't convince Negan of this.

"If I'm being honest, I'm really enjoying your bravery, doll. Well, I'm a man of reason and you've caught me in a generous mood. We do it as you say. You have three months to convince me that this is a fruitful alliance."

Her eyes flickered up surprised. She didn't expect to simply swallow her proposal like this. He had more power than Alexis could ever get, he could easily have dismissed her. But he didn't. Maybe he even found her ideas logical. Or he was planning something.

"Of course I have additions to the deal. Two, to be precise. First, I want a tour through your cozy little community next week."

Shrugging, she nodded.

"Ok. Second?"

Negan smiled brightly, showing his pearly white teeth.

"I want you to teach me how to ride a pony. Because, damn, you make a mind-blowingly amaaaazing entrance with that horsey of yours."

Laughing at Alexis' puzzled expression, he extended his hand to her.

"...Do we have a deal."

She looked down and took a deep breath before shaking his larger, rough hand.

"Yes, we do."

Alexis couldn't shake off the feeling of just having made a deal with the devil. This wouldn't end well for her.


	3. Chapter 3

Of course it caused an uproar.

Most of Alexis' people of course didn't understand why she made the deal with Negan. They just lived too far away from reality. Many of them haven't seen a walker in ages, so they surely couldn't get what a war with a Saviors would cost them.

She stood in front of the farmhouse that was the center of her communities. Every one here lived in RVs, they had countless of them, and the farmhouse was common space. One room was reserved for the doctor, one an meeting room, a former bedroom gave space for a makeshift kindergarten and the huge living room was the place where people got together. Sometimes the gathered and watched a movie from their collection of five DVD's.

The crowd consisted of fifteen people, the usual people that always annoyed her and questioned her authority, and shouted at her. Oh, how she would've loved to bash all their brains in. Her hand clenched around her bat when she imagined how much of a release it would be, while she blocked their voices out. But unfortunately she couldn't. Not if she wanted to live another day.

"Do you think they would've let us live if I simply did nothing? Like that they at least don't take all the shit we have from us. From now on we work together in peace with the Saviors. End of story. You guys won't even notice a change. It's me who has to bother with these fucks, so if you could just please stop complaining and do something productive?"

It's the third 'revolution' in four days they wanted to start and Alexis ran out of patience. Her voice was calm, but her cold eyes bore into every person in front of her. It wouldn't be the last. Alexis pushed through them, when suddenly a guy put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

But even more quickly, Alexis rammed her bat harshly into the guy's stomach. He laid on the ground, holding his middle while the female hovered over him. Finally the other people cleared the area around them, finally getting that they shouldn't push her buttons too much.

"Touch me again, asshole, and I cut you in pieces and feed you to the walkers."

She hissed directly in the guys face. He looked up to her in fear. But that wasn't enough. Alexis grabbed him by his collar und pulled him up.

"Got it?"

Eagerly he nodded.

"I can't hear you."

Alexis continued to stare her down, his face close to hers. She could feel his unsteady breath and enjoyed it that he finally learnt to fear her.

"I understand, Alexis."

"Good."

Letting him fall back down, she stood up and cleaned her jeans off dust and walked straight to her RV. There was no second glance needed. She knew that look on their faces. They reconsidered that she was ruthless and that she would everything necessary to keep the peace inside and outside their community.

She took a deep breath when she closed the door behind her. The RV was the only place in this world where she could be herself. Here she could allow herself to be weak for some minutes...and to be the mother of the little girl that currently sat on the bed and played with her doll.

"Hi mummy!"

The toothy smile of the three year old girl always made this rough world around her shatter and let Alexis be softer than she was on the outside. Her daughter held her doll up in the air proudly. She was obsessed with the toy, she cherished and valued it. Alexis had found it two weeks ago along with some stuffed animals that she still hid so she could surprise her with it later. It was strange that toys were actually things that were pretty tough to find, considering humans nowadays had trouble finding basic needs. But there were still enough children in this world and toys were probably one of the few things that could bring them at least parts of their childhood back.

Alexis didn't cry often. The only thing that really made her cry since the apocalypse was the thought that her daughter would grow up with guns in her hands and death around every corner. She didn't want that for her. How much she wished for her to have the same tiny problems Alexis herself faced when she grew up. She had a rough start into life, but after her parents adopted her, she had everything she could wish for. The only troubles she had were boys and her mother's constant bickering about her playing way to much shooters and her liking of slasher movies.

She sat beside the little girl and combed her thin blonde hair with her fingers. Kitty looked so much like her father, despite the striking blue eyes that definitely came from Alexis' side.

"Are you sad, mummy?"

Alexis shook her head and watched as Kitty play with her doll carefree. Of course the little girl couldn't remember the horrors that unfolded shortly after she was born. Since they were here, she lived a relatively normal life, met other kids and was growing up just fine. This was the reason why she clung to this community so much. She could easily survive on her own, but with a child it made things more difficult.

"No, Kitty, I'm fine. Are you hungry?"

She sometimes just noticed too much. Often she surprised her mother by showing her that she couldn't keep all the problems from what happened around them away from her. Kitty often knew when Alexis was bothered or upset and she had no clue how long she would believe her lies about it.

"No, I'm not."

Then a knock on the RV's door, ripped Alexis out of the small little bubble that developed every time she was around her daughter. Sighing, she stood up and opened.

It revealed Marcus, a dark skinned, dashingly handsome man that already lived in the community before Alexis came here. He supported her since the beginning and in the mean time they've grown really close.

"Are you ok?"

His voice was low when he noticed that Kitty was in here. Alexis stepped aside and let him enter. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and shot him a look. The small smile that could spread to a dashing brightness appeared. It was obvious that this smile was underused since the world went down. He was a cheery person, but this shit really could make everyone bitter.

"Yeah. I think the douches learnt their lesson."

"That's not what I meant."

Of course he was again pushing to the Negan-situation. Marcus and Alexis often disagreed on how to manage things, but they usually figured it out. The Saviors were something entirely else. He was all in for fighting or just wait it out.

"It's still some time until they come. So everything is just peachy."

Marcus moved closer to her and tried to look through her, but like always she was literally locked. She never really let anything important slip.

"Lexi..."

"Can you please stop calling me that?!"

She hissed, her piercing eyes shimmering dangerously. Alexis was on the edge of her nerves.

"Well, fine, I have my answer. You can stop pretending that this whole thing is freaking you out any less than anyone else."

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she took a deep breath to calm herself. Marcus trying to get her to speak about emotions was the thing that was actually freaking her out.

"You don't know a shit. Can you just please let me handle things my way? It's not like you have a say in this."

Her words may sound harsh, but Marcus knew that she meant well. She struggled to let this whole thing not influence the lives of her people. At least to a possible degree. Alexis took this all on her small shoulders and the dicks that just tried to uproar were still spoiled asses enough to blame her.

Marcus wrapped his strong arms around her waist and wanted to lean down and kiss her, but her eyes shortly flickered to her daughter. Thankfully, she was so deep into her game that Alexis could allow herself that moment. She stood on her toes while she hungrily reached for Marcus' lips. His fingers quickly played with the hem of her shirt and she slapped his hands away chuckling.

Suddenly, another knock on the door startled them. Marcus pulled back with a groan, his heated gaze still on Alexis who could hide her emotions more quickly.

"They're here, Alexis!"

Someone shouted through the door and everyone immediately knew who was meant. She cursed under her breath and turned to her lover.

"You stay in here with Kitty. Just make sure she doesn't come out, she learnt how to unlock the door."

Nervously, she looked for her bat, while Marcus helped her into her leather jacket.

"Are you sure I shouldn't come with you? I don't the hell trust him."

Alexis laughed bitterly and glanced at her daughter instinctively, doing the check up on her she always did, even if there wasn't danger in the RV.

"Do you think I trust him? I'm not stupid. Marcus, the only thing you can help me with is keeping my baby save. I know how to handle Negan."

She pecked him on the cheek and told Kitty to listen to Marcus before she jumped out of the RV, not waiting for him to reply. Leaning her bat on her shoulder, she walked beside one of her men back to the central house and took position in front of it, watching as the guards let the Saviors in.

There weren't as many as the first time they visited. This was probably Negan's connotation of a peace offering. Still, she could see guns with every movement the men did. That was where her community was at a fatal disadvantage: they didn't have many weapons. Alex herself never carried a gun, she got used to use the bat and knifes, but in an open fire they wouldn't stand a chance against anyone.

"Oh my god, this is like a freakin' candy shop!"

Negan's booming voice was the first to be heard. He swung Lucile excitedly and bent his back pretty unhealthy as he hopped out of one of the massive trucks that drove in and walked towards Alexis who just stared him down.

"Sorry, no candy for little, rude boys."

She replied snidely.

"Oh, I'm far from little, baby doll."

Alexis rolled her eyes and noticed that her people and the Saviors similarly watched the exchange with curiosity written all over their faces. Some of the guys that she put in place earlier were watching too, flinching whenever her gaze fell on them. Cowards.

But most of her people carried a certain hostility, which she could understand. Until now, they lived in kind of a peaceful situation, far away from any other humans and that way not bothering anyone. That was over now. By allying with Negan, they also inherited his probably many enemies.

"You're early."

Negan gazed over his shoulder to his men and then let his eyes scan the area around him. It was impressive. Countless RV's rowed up in the fenced place. In the center was the average sized farm house, that he expected to be Alexis' residence. Well, if he was in her shoes, he would've claimed it as his. He couldn't help but be impressed. It was clever to use RV's as a home, some were probably still working if filled up with fuel, so they would've a home on the road if they had to flee. And of course right now they were saving much space and could live in this area hidden by the forest. He wondered where they got them.

"Well, me and my guys were nearby and I thought we'd pay you a friendly little visit. I couldn't wait to see what you've built here, sweetheart. I'm hella sorry if we came fucking unpleasant."

She gave him the pokerface. Of course Alexis knew that this was planned from the beginning on. He wanted to make her nervous with this surprise visit. But she wouldn't let him succeed. She had nothing to hide.

"Not at all. Let's start then, I don't have time forever."

Negan continued to stare at her and a smirk spread on his face. He so much wanted to get a glimpse at what her true agenda was. Her motives to survive.

"One day, little Brit, you'll have to tell me how you came over the big pond and dived all into this gross mess."

"By plane, darling."

She shot, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. Negan immediately wanted to reply anything equally snarky, but he was interrupted by a child's voice.

"Mummy!"

When Alexis heard Kitty's voice way too close behind her, her eyes widened. Rough curses, directed at herself and Marcus slipped her lips and then she felt small, soft arms wrap around her neck. She knew that Marcus stood in front of the RV staring at the child, cursing equally.

Every one around them turned silent. They all held their breaths. But not Negan. His smirk turned darker while his eyes met Alexis', finally having his question answered. He loved it if things figured themselves out, especially in the most unexpected moments.

"Well, if that isn't one hell of a surprise."

Negan crouched down to eye level with the little girl. On the side he noticed how tensed Alexis was. It was the first time he saw her react to something that she couldn't have calculated before hand. She obviously wanted that child to be kept secret for her, meaning that this one meant more to her. The girl called her her mother, which explained much.

She clung tu mum's legs, hiding her face, but her blue eyes showing so much curiosity for the man who was in front of her.

"Kitty go back inside. I'll be there in a minute."

"Oh no, there's no need. I love kids."

Alexis had no clue what to do. He now had something to threaten her with. And Alexis would do many things if it concerned her daughter. She stayed silent, her smart mouth at a loss of words for the first time since she met Negan.

"Mummy, is that the bad man?"

Again it was a moment where Alexis was baffled by how much Kitty noticed. She never talked in front of her about Negan. At least not that she knew.

Negan chuckled and held his large hand out to the girl.

"I'm a friend of your mummy's. Right, Lexi? I'm Negan."

He even held his tongue for any filling curse words and just smiled. Kitty looked up to her mum and slowly loosed her grip around Alexis' leg. Her comparably very small hand shook Negan's politely.

"I'm Kitty."

Who named their child Kitty? Judging Alexis correctly, that wasn't the girl's full name. Negan shot another look at the mother who still looked horrified and hostile at the same time. A true mother bear.

"Well, Kitty, your mum was just about to show me around. You wanna join us?"

The girl nodded and Negan was about to stand up again, when she lightly tabbed his shoulder. He tilted his head in question.

"Can I sit on your shoulders? You're so tall."

A booming laugh erupted from the leader's chest and without asking Alexis for permission, he grabbed the girl and sat her on his broad shoulders, feeling her little fists grab into his hair.

Alexis threw him a death glare that said it all. She would kill him mercilessly if he even dared to hurt her. A part of him admired that. To love someone so deeply to a point that she would risk her life must be amazing.

"Don't worry, milf. I'll be careful."

He started to whistle as he walked towards the farm house with the little surprise safely on his shoulders.


	4. Chapter 4

The giggling that came from Kitty as she enjoyed riding around on Negan's shoulders annoyed Alexis to the edges of sanity. She was far from covering her disapproval in the leader of the Saviors even coming close to her child. And now Kitty had a crush on him. Amazing.

When they entered the farm house, two of his men followed them. Alexis remembered them as being Dwight and Simon, Negan's front row men. While Simon miserably failed to hide a grin while he watched his leader playing around with the little girl on his shoulders, his mustache moved by every twitch his lips made, the reddish blonde guy next to him looked around cautiously, nearly nervous. He looked like was about to pull off some crazy shit, which made Alexis even more tense. That guy could do whatever he planned everywhere else, but not in the middle of her home.

Alexis snippily explained the purpose of every room, but Negan didn't even seem to listen, as he was busy joking around with Kitty. Of course the little girl loved it and the brutal leader turned to a little boy from one second to the other.

"What do you say, Sy? Wouldn't I be a fucking amazing daddy? Maybe I should really leave something inside one of my wives the next time we have a big time screw session."

He laughed while he fixed Kitty on his hip, his gloved hand thankfully holding her securely.

"Language."

Alexis hissed, but Negan didn't even bother to shoot her a glance.

"Another rug rat cursing like a sailor and barking orders? Hell no."

Simon and Negan both leaned their heads back to laugh heartily. Dwight and Alexis on the other hand just shared a look, definitely having less fun. But it told the young woman more about the relationships in here. Simon was the only one who wasn't shitting his pants to speak up to Negan, he actually joked around with him and seemed to share his vulgar humor. Still, he sure as hell knew where the borders laid. Negan was in charge, the unquestionable boss. Dwight didn't seem comfortable around his leader. His nervous habits gave him away and he never spoke, only when he was asked something and even then very sparsely.

Alexis continued walking, not bothering if the men were done with their laughter. She shortly knocked before she opened the door to the most precious room here.

"This is the nursery. Katherine will stay here now."

She put sharp emphasis on her daughter's name and looked right into the pale blue eyes that matched her own so much. It kept Kitty from daring to argue, she knew that look on her mother's face. Alexis took her from Negan's arms and handed her to the younger woman, Sharon, that was looking at her leader and the men she brought with her with fear.

"Keep her inside. I mean it."

Her voice left no questions. Sharon flinched, looking even more frightened by Alexis' tone. Turning on her heels, she pushed Simon and Negan out of the room and led them towards her office. Negan whistled impressed.

"You're even more scary than I thought. Keeping your people in check by frightening them, even though you're freakin' tiny, impressive."

She shot him a glare and sat on her desk after letting the three men in.

"We're here to discuss matters of interest, so shall we?"

Alexis said annoyedly, still mad that Kitty behaved so trusting towards the stranger men. As if she hadn't taught the girl better.

"What, don't you want some guys for back up in here? I'll always let my guys have a say in shit like this, you know?"

Cocking an eyebrow, she tapped her foot impatiently.

"How generous of you. But I prefer to work alone, thanks."

Negan stepped forward and took a look around the room, swinging Lucille by his side lazily, while Simon took a seat on one of the stools in front of Alexis. The right hand man had already noticed this predatory gaze Negan eyed the other leader with. He knew this look, he had seen more often. For example on Dwight's wife and her sister. Actually whenever he wanted a woman and they weren't easy to get. Negan hated if he didn't get what he wanted, so this girl was in serious trouble. But Simon had to admit that from what he caught glimpse of, he liked that one. She was good at what she did and was one of the few people that wasn't immediately intimidated by Negan. Alexis stood her ground and it was admirable.

"So, Lexi, what kind of shit do you need?"

Negan looked out of the window and enjoyed the nice view to the forest. Horses could be seen farer away, it actually looked pretty peaceful. It could easily make one forget that it was the fucking apocalypse.

"Not much. We're quite good on the basics. Well, food is always a matter. Guns. Antibiotics. Some blankets."

She decided to be truthful with him. If this should work in any way, she needed to be. Even if she hated to give some information away.

"Guns, you say. Well, we have many."

The tip of his bat touched her shoulder and lightly scratched down her leather jacket onto her forearm. Alexis showed no reaction to the provocation.

"...But why should we give them to you? How can I be fucking sure that those blow job lips of yours spill nothing but lies?"

He had walked around her, Lucille now resting against her leg.

"We have an agreement, Negan. You always make it seem as if we just profit from you, but I sure as hell have many things you want, too. I feed most of my people by stuff we plant on our own. How about someone who can show you how to do that efficiently? Isn't that a fair exchange for some guns?"

Negan looked over his shoulder to Simon who smirked lightly.

"I told you she's likable."

The leader grinned as he spoke.

"...Deal. For the rest we need to scavenge. I'll pick ya up tomorrow. Bring two of your men."

"Fucking amazing how you leave me any say in this."

She looked up to him provokingly.

"Do you have a to freakin' be somewhere, doll? What is it? Getting your nails done? Shopping? Girl's night? Oh wait, no, I forgot, it's the apocalypse. Bet your calendar isn't that full."

Negan stated sarcastically, annoyed by her constant habit to question everything he says.

"Fine. Are we done now?"

She spat and Negan chuckled.

"So eager to see us leaving? Not yet, darling, you haven't fulfilled the second part of our bargain. You know, the riding part."

He moved his hips in an explicit way, to which Alexis rolled her eyes. She stood up and pushed him backwards so she could walk past him.

"Well then, hurry."

"Oh the holy fucking fuck, this is goddamn amazing, why the hell hasn't anyone told me how much fun this shit is?"

Negan had the brightest, pearly grin on his face since the moment he mounted the horse. His booming voice clearly irritated the usually quiet mare, but thankfully she didn't spook. Alexis just rolled her eyes at the salve of curse words.

"Can't you for once shut your cake hole? Horses are sensitive, they don't like if a loud dickhead on their back shouts around."

Annoyed, she continued to walk next to the horse. She held the reins in her hand as she didn't trust Negan to handle it all at once. He obviously struggled to hold the balance with his long, lean body.

"Did you just say cake hole? Freakin' Brit."

Alexis spared him a look.

"Yeah. Can you please concentrate? I don't want to pick up your gangly ass from the dirt."

Now she fired unbounded ambition. He growled lightly at the insult.

"I'm not gangly. I can show you how un-gangly I am, darling. Why don't you hand me the damn reins and step aside?"

The young woman tried hard to hide her amusement at his childish behavior, but she just shrugged.

"Don't complain about me not warning you afterwards."

She handed him the reins. He probably already noticed that this was a bad idea when his hands left the horn of the saddle, but of course he was too stubborn.

"Yeah, I don't need to get walked around like a freakin' kid. Can't be that hard."

Negan sure as hell wouldn't think that for long. Alexis chose the most quiet horse she had, but he still was an inexperienced rider and had no clue how to use his legs and the reins to lead the horse properly.

The second she stepped aside, he did the worst thing possible: To stabilize himself, he closed his legs tightly and of course the well taught horse took it as a sign to go faster. She fell into a slow trot, but of course it took Negan off guard.

"Whoa! Easy, buddy!"

He lost control more and more by the second while the mare continued to trot towards the other horses on the meadow. When he finally had the idea to let his legs loose, the horse stopped all of a sudden and the exact thing Alexis had predicted happened. His feet slipped out of the stirrups and he fell down like a limb meat sack, landing on the ground with a thud followed by a groan coming from Negan.

Alexis strutted towards him, hiding her smile with her hand. Negan laid outstretched in the dirt and cursed under his breath, but he was obviously not hurt. Just his ego took some deep hits.

"Don't you dare say a word."

He mumbled and then Alexis couldn't hold it back any more. Her head fell backwards as the most genuine laugh escaped her throat. She hadn't laughed in quite a while and she couldn't stop. Negan couldn't help but notice how angelic it sounded. It was infectious.

"I really had to fall from a fucking horsey to make the woman laugh. Seriously, that tells a lot about how screwed up you are."

After a while, the laugh faded into a giggle and she held out her hand to help him up.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

His gloved hand clenched around her forearm and Alexis pulled him up. Negan quickly cleaned his jeans and leather jacket off the dirt.

"I'd bash your pretty head in if you'd even think about spilling it."

He finally let go of her arm and Alexis immediately turned to her grazing horse and loosened the girth of the saddle and took the bridle off. She ignored his joking threat.

"Well, next time simply listen to what I say and it won't happen again."

Without hesitation, she handed him the heavy saddle to carry back to the barn.

"You sure as hell know that I'll have a problem with that."

Chuckling, she walked beside them through the knee high grass.

"Your problem, not mine."

When they reached the stable, Alexis brought the tack to its usually place and then picked up the bats they left up here. She threw him Lucille and he easily caught her, instinctively letting his hand glide over the weapon's smooth surface.

"Will you let me say goodbye to your little girl? She's cute as hell."

Alexis took a deep breath and made the mistake to look into his mischievously glistening eyes. He was telling the truth, he really liked Kitty. Negan maybe a cruel asshole, but hurting kids wasn't his style.

"Fine."

Rolling her eyes, she walked back towards the farmhouse with him and peeked inside the nursery.

"Kitty, say goodbye to your new...friend."

The last word she said through gritted teeth as she saw her daughter happily hopping towards her, smiling brightly at Negan. Well, these two obviously had found each other.

"Goodbye, uncle Negan!"

Kitty lisped a bit when she spoke his name, but it made it even more adorable. Her toothy grin struck something in Negan that everyone, including himself, thought was long dead.

"See you soon, cutie."

He ruffled the girl's hair and spared a grin at Alexis before he walked out of the farm house, leaving the community for today.

Alexis hugged her daughter tightly and watched the group leave through the window. She took a deep, relieved breath, tension falling off her shoulders. But she had to admit that this little incident early surely broke the ice between the two leaders.

Is it strange to look up curse words to channel Negan correctly? :D


	5. Chapter 5

Alexis regretted taking Marcus to the scavenging trip the minute they walked out of the gate to meet the Saviors. He had a scowl on his face when Negan hopped out of his car, greeting them with a wide grin that lingered on Alexis.

"Behave."

She whispered after elbowing Marcus. He just glared at her to which Alexis rolled her eyes. Usually he was quite the expert on scavenging. Marcus had an eye for things and found hidden treasures quite often. But he was obviously distracted. Since Negan left yesterday, he had annoyed Alexis with small remarks about how the leader of the Saviors looked at her as if she was some tasty piece of meat.

But she couldn't understand why he bothered so much. Alexis and Marcus never intended to have a serious relationship. It was nothing more than sex. They trusted each other and Alexis valued his advice highly, but there never would be anything romantic. Not mixing politics with emotions was her number one rule and she had this slight feeling that Marcus didn't get that.

"You ready to find some shit?"

Negan playfully wrapped his arm around Alexis' shoulders, but she immediately shrugged him off. God, this would seriously end in some giant pissing contest between Marcus and Negan if she wasn't careful.

"Yep. Where are we going?"

She scanned who was sitting in the car. He had brought three other people, one of them being Simon in the other truck. In total they were seven now, which was a proper group size for a smaller scavenging trip.

"Surprise, darling."

Rolling her eyes again, she wanted to walk towards the truck with her people, but Negan stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

"You're coming with me, Lexi."

"Are you serious?"

For the second time today, she shrugged him off.

"Yes. Abso-fucking-lutely."

His attention had shifted from Alexis to Marcus. The latter threw death glares at the other leader and Negan obviously didn't like it. How stupid could Marcus be to mess with him? Did he really want to destroy all that Alexis had built.

"Marcus. You and Jerry go in there. Now."

Her voice was dangerously low, the tip of her bat pointing towards the truck, not leaving anything up to discussion. Marcus gaze shifted to Alexis and he opened his mouth to argue, but then remembered how Alexis usually reacted to disrespect. With gritted teeth, he walked towards Simon's truck together with another one of their communities' man.

"He's your boyfriend?"

Negan held open the car's door for her, his eyes still on the man that just joined Simon. He had yet to learn that Negan couldn't stand being looked at like this.

"No. We're just fucking."

Alexis said bluntly and let herself fall into the seat. She could hear Negan's chuckle through the closed door, while he walked around the vehicle to get inside himself. Starting the engine, he pulled into the dirt road in front of the truck.

"You could get every guy on this planet into your panties and you really keep yourself a fuckboy?"

The young woman surely didn't miss that Negan just admitted that he really found her attractive, but she kept her face void of emotion.

"Well, since the biters are particularly nasty in bed, there's quite the lack of choice. But we can also stop pretending that you don't fuck around quite much at home, can't we?"

This topic was way too personal for Alexis' liking and it was seriously none of his business, but as usual he just wouldn't shut up.

"Hey, I don't fuck around. I just screw my wives. I'm a good pal."

A frown formed on her forehead when she heard the term 'wives'. She better not imagine what that meant.

"Wives? Plural? You keep yourself a harem?"

Negan laughed, his eyes darkening when he thought about the pretty young women that were just there to pleasure him.

"Damn straight. They chose to live that way and seriously, who the fuck cares for that old rules? We do whatever the hell we want, because we make rules, right?"

Shrugging, she had to admit that he had a point. People like Negan and Alexis were the winners of the apocalypse. She didn't know how his life looked before everything went down, but Alexis was far away from being in charge of anything.

"What have you been doing before the world went down?"

To be honest, the question slipped her lips more or less involuntarily. Of course she was curious, but she had sworn herself to not get into such personal with Negan. Here she was, asking him one of the most sensitive questions she could up.

"You won't believe it, but I was that normal suburban guy. A gym teacher."

His expression darkened a little when Negan thought about his past, surprising himself that he told Alexis without hesitation. He wouldn't say that he trusted her, but he was sure that she wouldn't take advantage of such knowledge.

Alexis' expression was unreadable, but then this small, rare smile crossed her lips.

"Yeah, I can't really believe that. You, a teacher? That kids sure as hell went out of school with the pottiest mouths ever."

Negan couldn't help but let out one of these booming, genuine laughs when he remembered these times. It had been easier, but he had to admit he didn't really miss it. He was better off now. He nearly overlooked a bump in the road and Alexis clutched the armrest tightly.

"I loved chasing those kid's asses around. But I was everyone's favorite teacher. And yeah, swearing got me into trouble quite often. What was your guess at my job?"

Sparing her a side glance, he grinned to himself. Breaking through her hard facade and making her loose up a bit was his favorite task these days.

"I don't know, owner of a strip club would've come to my mind."

Her pearly white teeth flashed as she hid a laugh from erupting. Negan chuckled and suddenly ripped the stirring wheel around, to which Alexis growled lightly in annoyance to his harsh driving.

"Would've probably brought me more money. But I'm seriously not good at sharing the pussies that belong to me."

She felt the hooded gaze her gave her and Alexis shifted uncomfortably in her seat, trying to keep up her composure. One second he made her laugh, the other he was again this offensive, trying to make her a offer she ignored.

"I guess you won't have to share anything if you drive us to death."

Smiling in success to make her uncomfortable, he ignored her remark and returned back to the questionnaire.

"Well, Lexi, how did you earn your bucks? Stripper? Table dance?"

She rolled her eyes at the whole question. Slowly she was giving up to correct him from calling her Lexi. It was hopeless to get this through his thick skull anyway.

"I was a teacher, too. English and computer sciences."

Negan's head now fully turned around and he looked her up and down in surprise.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. I can totally imagine that, nerdy glasses, short skirt, to make it a hard time for those poor boys in your class. Hell, I would've screwed your brains out to no end."

There was a time Alexis probably would've fallen for a guy like him. But that girl had died when undead fucks started to eat people. That girl wasn't the mother of a beautiful daughter.

"Don't get your ego up, I wouldn't have let you. I was married."

Her hands clenched into fists when she let that fact slip. Of course it wasn't anything that would endanger her or her people but this conversation was taking a turn in the whole wrong direction.

"Me too. But be fucking honest with yourself, would that have stopped any of us?"

She wanted to shoot him a glare, but then her sharp eyes fell on something in the far. It could've been nothing, but she had to check.

"Stop the car, Negan!"

The leader of the Saviors frowned and glanced into the rear mirror shortly.

"Wha-"

"Stop the fucking car!"

He stepped on the brake, hoping that Simon would react quick enough to not shove the truck into the car Negan drove.

Alexis already had the door open when the vehicle came to an abrupt halt. She jumped out of the car, earning her confused glances from all the men in the cars. Holding her hand above her brows, she shielded her eyes from the burning sun.

"Are you nuts?"

She heard Negan's angry voice faintly, she was too concentrated.

"Shut up!"

Her voice was barely a mumble. Simon now stood next to her, too staring into the distance. He seemed to see it, too. There was something that looked like a flat building, but it was covered by bushes, trees and vines. Then Alexis thought about the maps that laid on her desk in her office and remembered that in those woods that were in front of them had been a hiking trails. And sometimes at the beginning of such trails, there were supply stores. They just had to check. It looked like no one had been here for long.

"Boss, you should look at this."

Simon called Negan, who came out of the car with a groan. His right hand man held out a pair of binoculars for him. He looked through it and Alexis could see that grin spread on his face again.

"Lexi, I fucking love your eagle-eyes."

Alexis was filled with excitement as she motioned for the other men to come out of the truck. They did a short briefing, in which a problem rose up. The cars wouldn't come much closer. The group had to walk the short distance to the building, which was always a risk. Walkers tended to appear out of nowhere sometimes.

Anyway, they took the risk and were rewarded for that. Without any incidents, they got through the already plant covered area. No one had been here in a long time. It was one of these rare places that were forgotten as in the beginning, nobody bothered to look at a lonely store close to the woods and now that nature took it back, no one could see it. Adding to that, it was definitely Savior territory, so people better stayed far away.

Alexis and Negan led the small group walking side by side, clearing the way. Peeking inside, the store seemed rather quiet, but that didn't mean anything. When they walked inside, they knew why it was better to be careful: two heavily decayed biters stumbled towards them. They must've heard them coming as they were already halfway towards the door.

Before any of their people could even pull a weapon out, Negan and Alexis were inside and simultaneously bashed their bats into the creatures' heads, letting them drop to the floor after the first, heavy swing.

When they looked up to see the store nearly untouched and full of supplies, both leaders couldn't help but grin widely and doing something that would definitely become their interpretation of a high-five: Alexis held out her bat and Negan lightly prodded Lucille against it.

Simon grinned lightly to himself and spared a look at Marcus, who obviously didn't like that his leader got along so well with Negan. But both of them were sure that these two together were a force to be reckoned with.

After the moment of simply enjoying the sight of a full stuffed store, the leather clad backs parted ways and started on their mission to get as much stuff out of here as possible. They wouldn't get it emptied all at once, so they had to get back some times soon.

Food supplies were of course the most important, but tents, sleeping bags and clothing were too very interesting. An outdoor store was heaven for a scavenging trips, because those always had been the closest to be useful during an apocalypse. The food wasn't tasty, but edible for a long time and the other stuff was practical and durable.

Alexis ignored Marcus' stares the whole time and worked together with Simon. He actually seemed to be a nice guy. They kept some small talk and laughed a lot, which was quite refreshing.

"Hey, quit the fucking flirting. Sy won't leave my ass behind for your pretty boobs, won't he?"

Negan padded Simon's shoulder harshly and laughed. His mood was at its apex, it was obvious.

"Well, you know that I'd do much for a pretty girl..."

Simon laughed and Alexis just shook her head lightly smiling.

"Not that one. Territory's marked here."

Grinning, Negan looked over his shoulder to Marcus, his statement definitely ambiguous. But Alexis didn't even notice. She was distracted by the high shelves. Some cans were up so high, not even Negan or Simon could reach them and they were really tall. Pre-apocalypse they must've used ladders for them, but there were none to be seen.

Without further warning, Negan suddenly wrapped his arm around her thighs and lifted her up with ease. Alexis slapped her hand to her mouth to keep herself from shrieking and was ready to unleash a salve of insults, but she kept it in. After taking a deep breath, she swallowed the colorful language that described her distaste for his rude manners and started roaming through the high up shelves, finding lots of useful stuff, including first aids kits and some vitamin pills. She let them fall into a duffel bag that held out by Simon.

"You'd do literally anything to get my ass into your face, right?"

Alexis usually hated to rely on anyone, even in the smaller sense. She didn't like to be carried and things like that, because there was always a chance that she would be dropped. But somehow Negan's strong arms felt safe, he was probably the last guy who would accidentally drop her.

"Fucking true, sweetheart."

When he placed her back on her feet, the group was done raiding the most important things. They all carried at least three large, heavy bags when they stepped out of the building.

"Boss...?"

They just stepped back through the thick bushes when one of Negan's men in front of them came to a sudden halt. Alexis peeked around him only to see something that horrified her deeply.

It wasn't just one herd, it were two. They were directed towards each other, close to the cars. For some time, Alexis already noticed that the behavior of the biters changed. There were less loners stumbling around, they tended to gather in herds. What was even more frightening was that they were rotting grossly day by day, but they were obviously getting quicker. The unsatisfied hunger for fresh meat was probably making them faster.

There was a slim chance that they could get to the cars unnoticed, but they sure as hell wouldn't get away until the walkers passed. Of course they could also go back into the store, but it was obvious that the old door wouldn't keep them safe if the creatures noticed them and Alexis could already hear groaning coming from the woods behind them. They were cornered and every decision could lead to their instant death.

But Alexis was a leader. She needed to make those decisions.

"To the cars, now!"

She whisper-yelled and before anyone could even open their mouth, she already ran towards the vehicles.

Happy New Year everyone!


	6. Chapter 6

They all literally crashed into the cars, while at the same time trying to be as silent as possible. Alexis jumped the car and threw herself into the footwell of the back seats. Seconds later she felt a body crash onto her. Shuffling was being heard as the person Alexis couldn't see yet closed the car's door carefully.

"Damn, doll, that was one hell of a surprise."

Negan's voice rasped into her ear. They somehow managed to get their bags onto the backseat, so the leader could slip behind Alexis' body in the narrow footwell. For seconds, there was nothing to be heard except for their unsteady breaths and the fainted growling of the walkers outside.

But suddenly, gunshots sounded from the direction they came from, followed by the horrifying screams significant for someone who was just being ripped apart by the dead.

"Which one of that dumbfucks didn't listen to what I said?"

Alexis hissed. Every human that went down was a grave loss in their overall war against the undead. Negan sighed and peeked upwards to see what was going on outside.

"Must be Tommy. I saw your guys, Simon and Davey jumping into the truck. But well, it was quite the risky call. Seems he trusted his own fucking judgement more."

His gloved hand rested on her hip. This was way too much body contact for Alexis' liking.

"It's always a problem when they start to think on their own. I really hope for you that you aren't trying to put that one on me, because then this will become even more utterly uncomfortable."

Negan chuckled lightly. It drove Alexis nuts that she couldn't see his face, but she didn't dare to move.

"No, he paid the price of not sticking with the team...I'm just not used for someone else to bark orders around."

Neither was Alexis. It wasn't the best idea to get two leaders out on one mission, because it would always end in conflict, because both of them were too stubborn to compromise. Actually it surprised her that they got along so well on this trip.

"...What a pity that his bags are lost."

He continued and Alexis suddenly had an idea.

"Well, the walkers won't eat them up, won't they? If we simply wait out the night, the herd will be gone and we can get them."

Negan held his breath for a second as he frowned. This girl really was crazier than he thought.

"I'm all in for some risky shit, Lexi, but this is insane. You don't know if some of them will still be lurking around in the woods. We'll go the minute the sun says hello to us fuckers."

"Let's make it a bet. If I get the bags, I'll get them in addition to our part of the ration. If I don't, well...you won't have to deal with me anymore."

She was so brave, it was insane. Alexis would really risk her life for some stuff. But she was right, it was her life. She could do whatever the hell she wanted. Negan had to admit that he grew a liking into her, even if she was a potential danger, he didn't want her to be eaten.

"You talk me into quite a lot deals, darling. But well, your call."

He lightly slapped her hip to put emphasize on his words and grinned when she groaned angrily. They were so close and crammed up inside here, it was starting to mess with him.

"...I can't decide if this is highly awkward or fucking hot."

"The boner pressing into my ass says the latter."

Her voice was heavily annoyed by the fact that his dick was hard like a rock just because they were forcibly pressed onto each other. Sex was the last thing she could think about now.

"It's impressive, isn't it?"

His hot breath was tickling her ear again and his dark laugh filled the confined space of the car with tension.

"No, you're a freakin' perv. I can't imagine a bigger turn off than being squeezed into footwell with someone who has the self control of a schoolboy."

Alexis had to admit that she had to struggle to keep her pokerface on when his beard gently scratched against the sensitive skin of her neck. It's a truism to say that he's attractive and he obviously knows how to wrap women around his little finger. But not Alexis. That wasn't even a possibility.

"I just figured we both have the tendency to talk way too much. Similarities don't stop at that, don't they?"

He was right, they were quite similar. They were both crazy, clever and strong leaders that carried along ways that not everyone could get. It's what made them feared. Together they could cause a lot of change.

She was ripped out of her through when she felt Negan's hand wander down her leg and than back up to her belt. A shiver ran down her spine by the sensation he caused, but she immediately slapped his hand away.

"Next time I'll chop it off."

Alexis said to gritted teeth, but Negan ignored her remark.

"You really carry no gun with you. Why?"

His tone lost the amusement, he was frustrated that his prying wasn't succeeding in the way he wanted it to. He thought about it for a moment. She all in all was a damn mystery one, but that was just something that he couldn't see the sense in and it was bothering him. It was actually stupid. She endangered herself and others if she didn't have something to fire off if things got fishy. Not that he really cared, but Alexis and her community kind of belonged to him now and Negan hated secrets.

Then it suddenly came to him and his chest vibrated in suppressed laughter.

"You don't know how to use a gun, don't you?"

Alexis tensed, him putting two and two together took her off guard. It revealed a weakness to him that he could use against her and with Negan this could be fatal. She needed to protect her people and now that he knew that she was easily vulnerable, he could take advantage of that. Other than that, she was highly embarrassed by that. She lived in the middle of the apocalypse and she didn't know how to do such basic things that could save lives. To be honest, she had thought about it more often, but she simply couldn't waste important supplies like bullets just to learn.

Her cheeks flushed and it rose Negan's amusement even more. He had been pressing his dick to her ass and touched her inappropriately and she didn't even flinch. Showing off a weakness and she went red like a tomato.

"You're just full of surprises, Lexi."

"Shut up."

Alexis came back home with the three additional duffel bags she fetched in that risky little mission. Negan was impressed that she really risked her life, but supplies were just the most important thing for her after her daughter's wellbeing.

After that trip, Alexis didn't hear anything from the Saviors and it were two more days left until she would go to the Sanctuary for their next meeting. Life went back to normal, her people grew quite quiet after Alexis came back home with the best profit of a trip since months and all in all she could be satisfied with how things worked out. Maybe the alliance could be in everyone's favor after all.

Still, she was happy when she could go outside with her horse to get some space. She urgently needed it, especially now that she knew that she dodged a heavy bullet. Alexis headed towards the bigger pond to let her loyal horse cool its hooves and legs a little. She knew the gelding loved to stomp and play in the water, so she went there quite often on warmer days.

She was in the middle of the woods when she suddenly heard shuffling and shouting around her. Then, five men jumped in front of them in a short distance, making Alexis stop her horse abruptly. She easily could've just let him run through the humans, but she wasn't too keen on pulling bullets out of her horse and herself.

Her grip on her bat tightened as she stared the men down. Judging by their well supplied weapons they were Saviors, but of course the countless men that were let by Negan didn't know her face by now. She really had to kick his ass for not briefing them properly.

"Get down."

One of them snarled and Alexis' gaze flicked to the guy. He flinched a bit when her icy blue eyes met him, but he held his position.

"No. Tell Negan that I'm freakin' insulted that his lackeys still don't know who they shouldn't point a gun at."

The men spared glances at each other, becoming quite insecure by the mentioning of their leader's name. But they still held their guns up, of course not sure whether to believe her.

"I said get down."

Alexis just rolled her eyes annoyed and was about to continue her speech, when suddenly someone else joined them.

"But your fucking guns down, idiots."

Simon shook his head disapprovingly, annoyed by his men's lacking ability to put two and two together. Every Savior knew of the girl that rode around in a leather jacket and a bat resting on her shoulder.

"Your guys seriously have no manners, Simon."

A light, amused smile spread on Alexis' features, to which Simon chuckled. They ignored the confused and also slightly frightened expressions of the men behind the second in charge as he stepped forward and carefully padded her horse's neck.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, we're all a little on the edge."

Lifting up a brow, she looked at the one Savior she could actually like in question.

"You guys usually don't wander around here, right? Care to elaborate."

Simon sighed and looked over his shoulder to motion for his men to bugger off. He probably wasn't sure of he should involve Alexis in this. Negan surely wouldn't like this, but they could need her help.

"Dwight pissed off. Negan's hell bent on finding him."

Alexis shrugged. She wasn't really surprised by who tried that shit. The leader didn't trust Dwight the second he walked through her gaze. The skinny guy had this look on his face from the beginning on, even when he was inside her community he was probably evaluating if there was a good place to hide.

"Let him scarper, what do you care? His problem if he's so eager to get eaten by some stray walkers."

The right hand man averted his gaze. She was prying and Simon seriously didn't want to add to Negan's already raging state.

"He took his wife and her sister, who Negan wanted to take as a wife. Adding to that, they stole hell a lot of rare medicine. Negan doesn't play nice with betrayal."

She understood the issue, but it only showed that Negan ruled with his pride. It would screw him over big time some day, as there surely were more urgent problems. But of course it was his call.

"Care to help?"

Simon tilted his head, looking up to her. Alexis let her gaze wander through the woods. The trees stood closely together here. With their heavy trucks they had nearly no chance to roam the area efficiently. But why did she bother? This wasn't her fight. But her alliance. She sighed.

"Alright. Up west there are some old cabins, they probably seek shelter for the night. I'll go there, follow me as quickly as you can."

Quickly she checked the knifes on her belt and thigh, before picking up the reins in her left hand again. The bat was propped against her shoulder. When Simon nodded her a 'thank you', Alexis turned her horse around and let it fall into a quick trot. At this pace she could properly scan the area and was of course way quieter than with any car.

She was about to check the second shelter when she heard sobs and crying from afar. Immediately she stopped and hopped off her horse and secured him on a steady tree. Slowly she walked towards the scene to see two persons gathered around one laying on the ground lifelessly. Dwight was one of the persons crouching and Alexis lightly smiled. Negan owed her big time, if this went well.

Alexis shuffled closer and waited until Dwight stepped back so she could take the girl that crouched over the body as her shield from any bullets directed towards her.

Dwight turned around to take a deep breath and that was Alexis' opportunity. She grabbed the taller woman from behind, muffled her screams with her hand and held a knife to her throat with the other.

When the greasy haired man turned around his eyes widened and the gun he held in his hand immediately rose.

"Don't. I'll kill her, you know it."

She forced the woman who she expected to be Sherry, his wife, to bend her knees so she could look Dwight in the eyes. He may not know her well, but Alexis' reputation was to be quite ruthless. If he really cared for that girl he wouldn't try anything.

"Alexis, this isn't even your fight. Just let her go, we'll disappear from your area, I promise."

Dwight lifted his hands in defense and slowly stepped towards them, but Alexis pushed the knife into Sherry's skin, drawing some blood as a warning. The young woman winced under her grip.

"You know Negan will kill everyone in my community if I let you go. He has this nasty tendency to know every shit that he shouldn't hear. Anyways, thieves aren't my pair of shoes as well."

He was frozen in spot now, not sure what to do. Dwight couldn't risk being captured by the Saviors, but he also couldn't leave Sherry behind.

It all happened too fast. Before Alexis could notice Dwight's eyes flickering to his left, she already felt the exploding pain her thigh. A bolt buried deep into her flesh, her jeans immediately staining with blood. Her leg gave in and she fell and took Sherry down with her. But other young woman reacted quickly and ripped the knife from Alexis' hands and pushed it into her side and ran away. The wounds weren't fatal, but the blood loss and horrible pain made it hard for Alexis to get up. She didn't calculate that there was another person with them.

Thankfully, she suddenly heard the roaring of cars and the sound of shouting booming through the tress. A truck halted right in front of her. From the corner of her eye she saw Sherry and Dwight fleeing into the woods. Her shivering hand lifted and pointed in the direction so the Saviors could follow the lead.

"Lexi, stay with me! It'll be ok."

She heard Simon's voice close to her, but she payed him no attention. Instead she held her bleeding side and involuntary ripped the knife out. The pain flashed through her like a lightening and made her pass out.


	7. Chapter 7

Alexis heard many things around her, but her eyelids just wouldn't open. Her throat was so dry and whenever she tried to say something, coughs were the only thing coming out.

She probably hit her head when she fell. The bloodless added to that and now her head was spinning, her mind slower than usual which annoyed the hell out of her.

"Who's in there, Sy?"

How did Negan get here? Oh no, they drove somewhere. Simon had carried her inside the truck and talked to her the whole way. Wherever they were now.

A thousands thoughts raced through Alexis' mind but she couldn't really grasp them.

"Boss, um, listen, it's..."

Negan immediately interrupted his right hand man.

"I don't have time for this freakin' shit..."

The truck's door opened fully. No light blinded her sensitive eyes, so it must already be dark outside. How long had she been in here?

"What the fuck is she doin' here?"

She must look pretty horrible. The arrow still stuck in her thigh, the bleeding wound under her ribs was just covered by a makeshift bandage. She was stained with blood. It was in a sickening contrast with her even paler than usual skin.

Simon hesitated. Alexis never had him see frightened, or uncomfortable around Negan. They always seemed like close friends, but this seemed to be something different. Negan was deadly quiet, one second before erupting into a violent outburst.

"I asked you a fucking question, Simon!"

He suddenly yelled right in Simon's face. Lucille swung by his side, his knuckles white from gripping so tightly. At least Simon was clever enough to look him in the eyes and not flinch or step back. They stared each other in the eyes for a while until Simon found the right words.

"She was riding around and ran into us...then I asked her to help, because she knows these woods the best and is quicker by horse."

Negan listened to his truthful answered, his grip around Lucille loosening a bit. But the anger did not fade. Simon wasn't supposed to ask for help. They didn't need help. Especially not in this. Alexis shouldn't even know about this. Allies or not, this was none of her business.

"You let her run into three armed persons on her own? And she fucking did that? I don't know if she's suicidal or if you wanted her dead."

Of course Simon didn't want her dead. Negan and Alexis both knew that. Alexis wasn't under anyone's command. This was her own call. Whenever she could properly speak again, she would kick Negan's ass for blaming Simon for this. He just asked for help.

"Tina was already dead. She had captured Sherry to keep D from shooting her. Whoever shot her with that crossbow, she didn't expect them."

Negan shook his head, stroking over his slowly outgrowing beard.

"Problem for another time. You two have no idea how much I want to bash your pretty heads in."

He growled and then looked at Alexis again. This arrow that sticked out of her thigh looked really bad. Her whole body was shaking, so he got out of his leather jacket with a sigh and wrapped it around her.

"She needs to see a doctor, like right fucking now. I'm taking her home."

Carefully, he picked her up, trying hard to avoid the arrow from digging deeper into her flesh.

"Ours or hers?"

Negan gave Simon before he stepped towards another car.

"What do you think, captain shitting obvious?"

With that, the question was answered. Simon quickly got back into his truck before he could piss Negan even more off. He knew that he was in charge now for the Dwight searching party.

Before Negan could place her in the back of the smaller car, Alexis grabbed the collar of his white t-shirt, staining it with her blood.

"I...I need my...daughter. They don't know where I am...I...home. Get me home...Can't leave Kitty."

He intently listened to make out a sense in her mumbled words. She was seconds from passing out again. Negan needed to hurry.

"I'll take care of it, I promise."

His words were the most genuine. He couldn't remember when it's been the last time he was that serious. But it was about her kid and Negan could imagine how much that meant to her.

"Thank you."

She said in between a new salve of coughs, before her head sunk against his chest.

Grey.

When Alexis opened her eyes she just saw grey. At first, she thought it was the cloudy sky, but there were no clouds. This was a ceiling. Around her were grey walls.

She was stretched out on the most comfortable mattress she ever had laid on. It was one of those highly expensive ones. Never would she have bought one of these before the apocalypse. Alexis had always been frugal, her husband would've said penny-pinching.

Her RV didn't have a grey ceiling. It certainly didn't have a soft mattress. And it sure as hell wasn't this roomy.

Alexis wasn't at home. Her clouded mind took a long time to process that. But where the hell was she?

The answer came quickly to her when she saw a certain bat wrapped with barbwire leaning an edge of the room. Beside her bed, there was the man who carried the weapon around all the time. He was sitting on a wooden stool, his gloved hand resting on her bed, while his head rested on the other. Negan was about to doze off, deep dark blue rings were prominent under his eyes.

"Negan?"

Suddenly he sat up straight when he heard her voice. At first he looked around confused but when he noticed her opened eyes, he seemed to remember why he was actually sitting here. In this moment Alexis saw a whole other side of him. His eyes seemed to melt when he saw that she would be ok. She would've sworn that there was a soft look on his face, but it faded before she could really count it in as more than a hallucination.

"Oh, look, princess dick is awake. Shall I get you some champagne?"

His voice dripped of sarcasm and held back anger, but Alexis simply ignored it.

"Why the hell am I..."

But she wasn't allowed to end her question. The metal door flew open and a whirlwind of blonde braids flew in and jumped Alexis.

"Mommy!"

Kitty's tiny arms wrapped around her neck and Alexis groaned in pain when her daughter pressed directly into the wound on her side. She tried to push the pain away and held her child close to her.

"I'm sorry, she just wanted to..."

The voice of a red haired young woman sounded through the opened door, but Negan simply dismissed her with a flick of his wrist.

"Careful, baby girl, your mommy still needs rest."

Negan saw that Alexis' face paled when Kitty jumped directly into her injured side. He picked the little girl up and sat her on his lap so she could still see her mother.

It was only then when Alexis' spinning mind truly realized where she was and that Kitty was here. She seriously had a problem with her daughter being away from the safety of her home. Alexis didn't know the people here, she couldn't be sure that she was safe.

"You brought her here?!"

Negan lifted a brow, but he wasn't surprised by her reaction. She was just too stubborn to accept help. Her tone truly pissed him off.

"You dramatically asked for you daughter when you looked like you were about to bleed to death. You're welcome."

Sighing, she sat up, suppressing a pained hiss whenever she moved one of her aching muscles. She seriously didn't want to fight, she needed to keep her temper in check. He was right, she should be thankful. Simon and Negan saved her ass.

"Don't take me wrong, it's just...is she save here?"

She hated to admit that in her current state she couldn't properly watch out for her own daughter. But again Negan took it as an insult.

"There's one thing on earth I can promise you, Lexi. No one will dare to touch a kid in here. Got it? So stop complaining."

He stood up and gently sat Kitty down on the bed. Picking up Lucille, he spared a look at Alexis, who looked so vulnerable right now. Negan had no clue why he felt so protective towards the little family in front of him. Probably because there was a kid involved.

"Doc said you need at least a week before you can run around again if everything goes well. You'll stay here for that time and keep your ass in bed, understood?"

His tone was serious, but Alexis just snorted, which made Negan smile a little. Of course he knew that she wouldn't listen to him. He wouldn't be surprised if he saw her running around in less than an hour.

"We have a kindergarten, too. You can bring Kitty there if you need a moment for yourself. We have hell a lot of toys there."

When his eyes landed on Kitty, his smile widened. He really grew fond of the little, brisk girl. Alexis nodded and for now that was everything Negan needed. Waving at Kitty one last time, he left mother and daughter alone for a bit.

"Mommy, look what uncle Negan gave me!"

Kitty had a small toy car on her palm and showed it to her mother. Alexis looked at it and then back to the door, feeling a lump in her throat. She felt so conflicted about Negan. Alexis hated that she just couldn't see through him. Why was he so nice to her? Why did her do all this? In this world there was no one without an agenda, especially the leader of the Saviors.

Of course Alexis didn't stay in bed. Kitty was damn exhausted and she fell asleep about half an hour after Negan left. Carefully Alexis tested if her injured leg would carry her weight and it did surprisingly well. Those painkillers they gave her must be damn amazing.

The room was small, but compared to her RV pure luxury. There was a small bathroom that was full of stuff that Alexis hadn't seen for years. There was body lotion, new looking hair brushes, face cream and every basic toiletries she could need. Unfortunately there wasn't a shower, which was the thing Alexis needed the most now. Quickly she cleaned herself the best she could with the pleasantly warm running water coming out of the faucet, brushed her teeth and put her hair in a high ponytail before she grabbed her surprisingly unharmed leather jacket and bat.

When she silently walked out of the room to not wake Kitty, she was again greeted by grey walls. The Sanctuary was a literal maze, but her growling stomach kept her going. Her chin was high when she noticed passing persons staring at her suspiciously, covering that she had no clue where she was going. She hoped she would run into Simon, he at least wouldn't make fun of her the whole day.

But of course she wasn't graced with such mercy. In the next hallway, Negan stood, his arms wrapped around two women in tight black dresses. Alexis was tempted to simply turn around and go the other direction, but his laugh already told her that he saw her.

"Exactly as I expected it. Less than a fucking hour and suicidal Lexi is already out to make trouble...doesn't she look badass with that bat and leather jacket? If you ever wanted to know how I'd look with boobs, just have a look at her."

He grinned brightly as he whispered the last part to the girls beside him. Alexis recognized the red head that had brought Kitty to her beside him. It wasn't hard to make an educated guess who these girls were.

"Frankie, Amber, would you kindly leave us alone for a bit?"

The girls groaned and giggled, making this into a heavy make out session. Disgusted, Alexis adverted her gaze and waited until he was finally ending his show. Red head and blondie looked at Alexis disapprovingly as they passed. She hadn't seen such pathetic 'girly behavior' since high school, so she rolled her eyes.

"Guess these are your wives?"

Alexis stepped towards Negan when the women finally went out of eyesight.

"Yeah, two of them...How are you feelin'?"

His tongue grazed his teeth as he looked after Frankie and Amber.

"Fine, I could kill a whole herd without flinching. Which means I can stop bothering you and leave."

Negan chuckled and grabbed Alexis' upper arm as she wanted to walk past him. She shot him a glare, she seriously hated to be stopped like that.

"Where the hell are you headed?"

He loved to tease her. Of course he knew that she had no clue where she was going.

"To eat. I'm hungry, Kitty will be, too, when she wakes up."

She bit her lower lip which was the only sign that gave her away. No one else would've noticed that her whole confidence was nothing but a mask.

"Well, sorry to interrupt you, doll, but the cafeteria is this way."

Negan pointed exactly in the direction he came from. He was about to tell some guys to bring her some food, but now the she was already up, this was way more fun.

Frustrated, she turned around to storm off in the other direction.

"Let me give you a tour."

Huffing defeatedly, she gave up and let him stick by. Without him she would probably get lost in this giant maze anyway.


	8. Chapter 8

Side by side they walked in silence until they reached a large hall. They were on something like a raised stage, it overlooked a mass of people walking around in the room beneath them. Alexis mouth nearly popped open. She just realized how many people were here. The Sanctuary was giant, but still the amount of survivors it inhabited was unbelievable.

Negan smirked knowing what would come now. He stepped to the handrail and looked down to his people. When the first ones saw him standing there, they immediately hushed everyone around them and they all fell to their knees.

Alexis had to admit that this was insanely impressive. He fascinated her in many ways. The power he had over this people was frightening, but admirable at the same time. No one would ever dare to stand up to him. Strangely, they all seemed to willingly accept him, they were even thankful.

"You see, darling? This is respect. I'm king dick around and everyone knows it."

Her face didn't give anything away. There was just a light, amused smile on her face.

"Don't expect me to kneel in front of you before the day I die."

There was an unspoken challenge in her eyes and Negan was tempted. He loved difficult tasks and she already had become his challenge.

"We'll see, darling. Come, it's lunch time...To your feet!"

He yelled the last part down to his people and they hurried to get back to their places. Negan placed his hand on the small of her back and led her towards the cafeteria. It was filled to the brim with people, some where still streaming inside from the hall they've just visited.

Alexis was about to grab herself a tray and politely get to end of the row. At home, she was always the first to get anything. That was her small privilege, the piece of common respect her people gave her. They didn't have to kneel for her, but they led her be at the head of everything. But here she was a guest.

"Where are you going?"

Negan's voice made her stop. He looked at her with raised brows.

"What are you thinking, sherlock?"

She tilted her head. Negan laughed at her small bickering. Alexis was never really disrespectful to him, but always has this tone on her that he would kill others for.

"We're eating at my place."

He stated. The other leader shuffled back over to him, leaning in closely.

"Take the advice from someone who has experience: eat with your people. You'll get to know them better, which is an important part in controlling them."

Negan was silent for a while and just stared at her for a while, before a sinister grin spread on his handsome features. He wrapped his arm around Alexis' shoulders and led her towards the serving counter.

"Lexi, it's a pity that you just won't be my right hand woman. I could need someone like you here."

Shrugging, she watched as the mass of people parted for them. It was insane. Without hesitation, he walked towards the front of the row and of course everyone let them willingly through.

"W-what can I...um...get you, boss?"

The woman at the counter looked nearly horrified, which made Alexis grin. She had no clue what they had here, so she simply ordered the same that Negan had. A plate full of steaming spaghetti with tomato sauce was placed on her tray and her stomach growled in anticipation. It looked delicious. At home, they neither had the supplies or the chef for cooking something that good.

"My guys work for points here. It's our currency here, the harder you work, the more points you get, the more you can afford. It's easy."

He continued speaking while they were looking for a free space.

"Well, I don't have any points."

"You, darling, are my guest. My best men also don't have to work for points. They can have whatever shit they want."

They found a space at the head of a table and they sat down opposite each other. Suddenly, it was all quiet in the room filled with people, all eyes seemed on them. The guys next to them stared at them in shock, their forks raised halfway to their mouths.

"What?"

Alexis and Negan barked in unison. They all gazed back to their plates embarrassed and the chatter slowly rose again. Both of them knew exactly that they were the top topic. Negan's people really weren't used to have their leader around while eating.

The two leaders grinned at each other before they stared eating. Alexis had to hold back a moan when the food stroke her taste buds. Delicious was the understatement of the year. This was the best food she ate since the world went down.

"What did you say to my people?"

She said in between taking bites.

"Me? Nothing. Simon and Arat brought your horse home...that piece of shit tried to bite Simon."

Alexis chuckled and took a sip of water.

"He doesn't like men. Now Simon knows. Go on."

"...well, your smart ass of a boyfriend needed some persuasion and by that I meant gun threats, but he let your kid go and promised to watch over your people. But because I don't trust him, I told Arat earlier to stay at your place."

He really had some nerves to push her people around. Marcus would go nuts, but she couldn't say that Negan's decision wasn't clever. Alexis of course trusted Marcus, but she knew he wasn't a born leader. With Arat's help it maybe would go on smoothly.

"Thanks, by the way, Kitty loves the toy car."

Negan finished his plate and leaned back on the stool, his broad frame looking quite amusing on the tiny chair. His long legs caged her feet under the table.

"Yeah, I had no dolls and she told me she likes cars. I seriously am growing fond of your kid."

Rolling her eyes, she placed the fork on the plate. Her hunger was more than satiated. She already looked forward to bring Kitty her portion.

"I know. She calls you uncle Negan, which seriously is a bad sign."

She still had no clue what to think about the fact that Negan liked her daughter so much. It kind of bothered her, but on the other hand she knew that he would hurt her.

Negan laughed and stood up, leaving his dishes standing. Alexis rolled her eyes and threw him a look, before picking their plates up and bringing them back to the station, simply to annoy him. The woman gave her a thankful nod.

When they left, the people again stared at them. Negan chuckled and peeked down to her. She shot him a questioning gaze.

"They think you're my new wife."

Snorting, she continued to walk beside him.

"They don't know me. If they would, they'd know that I'd never become your bitch."

She was walking on a fine line. Negan wasn't keen on having his wives insulted.

"Well, I do have a new wife, it's just not you. It's good to let them speculate for a while."

Alexis stayed silent, she seriously didn't want to hear about any of his crazy ass marriages. He should do whatever he wanted, but she still found it kind of disgusting. The girls sure as hell didn't stay with him because they loved him so much.

"What happened to Dwight?"

Finally she could ask the question. Out of respect she didn't just blurt it out in front of his people, because she wasn't quite sure how much they should know.

She hated it to not know what was going on around her, she simply wasn't used to it.

"He's still smarty pants after all. Came back in the evening with Sherry."

In surprise, she raised her brows and looked at him. That was something she wouldn't have expected. After what happened, it wasn't that clever to come back to a raging Negan. She had yet to see what he could do when he was truly pissed.

"I suppose they're dead by now?"

He laughed and Alexis couldn't see why he found this so amusing. She was beyond pissed off Dwight, his girl and however shot that bolt. How much she would love to kick their asses herself.

"I don't know about you, doll, but I'm a forgiving man. They came back, asking for my fucking forgiveness. Sherry even asked to become my wife. So, I granted her wish. I locked Dwight in a cell and decide about his fate after he spent some time in that nicely cold, smelling cell."

Every emotion washed off Alexis' face and was replaced by pure anger. He took this woman, someone who had not only endangered Alexis' life, but also the lives of his men and that had caused the waste of countless resources as a goddamn wife?

"You're joking, aren't you?"

Negan noticed her grim expression and chuckled. He seemed to have hit a nerve.

"I get why you're royally pissed off, but I'm sorry to tell ya that I don't give a flying fuck. Dwight will get his punishment and Sherry...what can I say, she's super hot."

Alexis clenched her hands into fists to keep herself from smacking him right across his handsome face for his stupidity. Negan was paranoid and he thought by keeping traitors close, he could watch over them. But he was so wrong. He'd be surprised how people could go behind one's back even right under his nose. They were both capable leaders and highly skilled at reading other people, but they were still humans after all. He showed it right now. Negan let his dick do the thinking.

"Don't tell me I didn't warn you when you're dying miserably, chocking on your own stupid decisions."

Suddenly, she was with her back against the wall. She groaned in pain when her injuries called for attention. Lucille was pressed against her uninjured side and Negan stared down to her. A violent hint glistened in his eyes, a look that would've made everyone shiver in fear, but not her.

"Lexi, you're forgetting one major fucking thing: You're in my home. In here, you're not in charge. You are my guest, so shut the fuck up and don't meddle into my business."

He lowered Lucille and instead pressed his body closer to hers. It was hart for her to stay composed and not let her breath hitch, but she managed to keep herself together. The atmosphere slid back and forth between the line of violence and sexual tension.

"Fine. But tell your wife to not dare and cross me in here."

Negan continued to stare down to her and didn't move an inch. He admired her guts to speak up to him even though she was obviously at disadvantage. Over time he had met a lot of leaders, he all destroyed them easily. But he had this feeling that she was the one person that couldn't ever be broken. The most capable leader he ever saw.

Leaning in, he let his mouth hover closely to her ear.

"If you were my wife, I'd never let you leave my bed, so you'd never see her anyway."

His words sent a pleasurable shiver ran down her spine and Alexis swallowed harshly. She hated her body for reacting this way.

"Goodie that this will never happen."

Her voice was firm and determined, not giving away how affected she was by him. Her icy blue eyes bore into his when he lifted his head again. The staring contest went on for a while until Negan chuckled, fascinated by the woman in front of him.

"Come on, I haven't finished the tour."

Relieved that the tension was finally broken, Alexis followed Negan. They came back to the hallway were her room was and she peeked shortly inside to see that Kitty was still sleeping. Afterwards, Negan opened a door not far away from hers.

"This is my place."

He led her into finely furnished room. The colors were still reducing to a dark grey tone, but in here it seemed like this was chosen by some designer. It somehow fitted him, it had this clean, sharp notion of style.

The room was much bigger than hers, it was actually huge compared the shoebox sized apartment she rented when she was in college. In here, one could easily forget that outside were millions of flesh eating undead roaming around.

"Nice."

Was the only thing she could bring out as she touched the smooths surface of the leather couch. Her usually so sharp tongue was still twisted from what happened some minutes ago.

Negan carefully leaned Lucille against the couch table and unzipped his leather jacket.

"Do you wanna shower?"

Of course he knew that there wasn't a shower in her room. He did this on purpose just to mess with her. Alexis spared him a serious look but then nodded. Negan motioned towards the door leading to his equally stylish bathroom.

"If you want me to join...just say the fucking word."

He grinned while giving the lewd remark. Alexis rolled her eyes and shut the door, putting emphasis on her refusal by turning the lock.


	9. Chapter 9

In the Sanctuary time passed quickly and surprisingly peacefully. Alexis struggled hard to keep her attitude down and not act like she owned the place, but she fortunately succeeded mostly.

If she was honest she avoided Negan for most of time. She knew that he always loved to push her buttons and that it always ended in fighting. Negan and Alexis were explosive around each other and even if the Sanctuary was huge, it seemed that it wasn't spacious enough to keep both their egos.

Together they could built some great things, but in the mean time it was better if the two leaders stayed in their places, so the tension between them wouldn't go off into whatever would happen.

The huge problem was that Kitty seemed love it here. There was so much to explore to her and the people here were surprisingly friendly. They seemed to fear or mistrust Alexis to some degree as they all tried to avoid her the best way they could. For a while she had hoped that she could meet some other apocalypse-moms here, but when she was in the cafeteria or in the market hall, no one dared to speak to her. When she tried to establish a conversation they all scurried off. She had the feeling Negan was behind this, too. At least Simon took pity on her and agreed on some small talk.

There was still the unfortunate fact that Alexis had to shower in Negan's room. She had no clue where else to go for that and she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of her asking.

Alexis brought Kitty to the kindergarten because it was obvious that the little girl was bored and she seriously wanted her out of the way if Negan and her started their bickering again. The young woman watching over the four other children in here seemed quite nice. She told her that there were much more kids in the Sanctuary, but most parents didn't have enough points to have a daycare for them.

Negan's approach of establishing a new, figurative after-apocalypse currency was interesting and intelligently responding to human psychology. But of course it was also depressing that humans couldn't share and live without money in a world like this.

The thought still raced in her mind when she knocked on Negan's door, but was shut down when the man himself opened the door. He was shirtless, showing off his many tattoos, just zipping up his pants. His hair was still wet and a mess from towel drying. Alexis eyes only flickered down his body for the blink of a second, but of course Negan's sharp mind noticed. His lewd grin appeared on his face, he wouldn't let this slip.

"You wanna see more?"

Negan's hands went back to the button of his trousers to tease her. The other leader just gave him an annoyed look.

"Shut up. I need to shower."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and regained her straight posture. Of course he was attractive. It was obvious, no one could deny it. This was just a natural instinct, it didn't mean that he had any power over her. That was her greatest fear. Giving up power was something Alexis couldn't endure. Maybe she had grown into a control freak over the years, but who could blame her?

"Sure thing, sweet cheeks. I'll be done in a sec, come in."

Negan stepped back to let her go inside. She looked at him with a frown and then fell onto the black leather couch, looking out of the large window. The walkers chained to the fence were quite the horrifying view but also that showed her what kind of amazing strategist Negan was. He was a clever bastard, that's what made him who he is. Intelligence was the greatest weapon in this world. Muscles couldn't save your ass if you don't know how to effectively use them. On their own no one would survive out here, that's why the less clever people needed leaders like Negan or Alexis.

"How are you doin', doll?"

His constant using of pet names was annoying her more than him having established calling her 'Lexi', but there was a hint of concern in his voice that made sure that this wasn't just chit chat. He really wanted if she was ok.

"Yeah, the wounds still hurt like a bitch, but keeping up with a little girl running through a giant maze keeps me distracted."

His back faced her while Negan browsed through his closet for a shirt. It gave her view onto the tattoos on his back, which she found quite impressive. She never knew that she had a thing for ink.

"Why don't you take some fucking pain meds? I told ya you don't need to be tight ass because of points. You're my fucking guest, Lexi."

He turned around when he pulled his shirt on and Alexis took it as her cue to go into the bathroom.

"Don't need...them."

She hesitated when suddenly the door to the bathroom flew open and it revealed a half naked blonde that was just drying her hair with a towel.

"Alexis."

She had a quite triumphant grin on her face, as if the deed she just did was something to be proud of.

"Amber."

Alexis had memorized the names of all the important people in here. For her, the wives couldn't be counted in as important but they surely had their influence here.

A scowl spread on her face when the girl hopped over to Negan excitedly and they showed off a heavy make out session right next to her. Negan knew how much she hated it and of course he was even more keen on being offensive. In his screwed up way he wanted to show her what she could have her and it was seriously bothering him that she didn't react one bit to his tries to lure her into his bed.

"Wanna join us?"

He squeezed Amber's ass and while he looked at her. His eyes were dark and hooded, lust and wanting obvious. Negan imagined for days how she would look like naked on his bed, squirming for his attention. Her playing hard to get was only making it worse. It intensified the challenge for him.

"Seriously, Negan, fuck off."

She hissed.

"Gladly."

The leader laughed when she closed the bathroom door shut with a loud smack.

Alexis had no clue why she was that angry. Negan pushing her buttons usually just annoyed her, but his show off with Amber had her on edge. The way he looked at Alexis while this girl was kissing his neck, his eyes glowing with a mixture of lust and mischief...it send chills down her spine but at the same time it made her so angry. Angry as in wanting to bash heads in.

In moods like these she went out riding, it always helped her clear her mind. But she was stuck in here and it was slowly driving her crazy. Negan was driving her crazy. The only thought that was keeping her sane was that Kitty was here and needed her full attention...apart from her still nastily hurting wounds.

She was on her way to the kindergarten when she got lost inside this maze yet again. A scowl spread on her face as she tried to find her way back, but every corner she crossed looked just the same as the last. Alexis grabbed her bat tighter, tempted to simply swing it against something just to annoy Negan.

But her violent outburst was retarded by her hearing whimpers from not too far away. A female voice tried to keep herself from screaming out loud.

"No...no...please don't. I'm so sorry!"

Alexis silently shifted around the corner to see the broad back of a man pressing a woman into a wall. Not in a pleasurable way. The woman was obviously afraid, she begged the guy to leave her alone.

"You're worth nothing. I should simply feed you to the walkers, useless piece of shit."

A loud smack sounded as his palm connected with her cheek. Not a sound escaped the woman's lips, it seemed like she had learnt to suppress it.

Anger boiled up in Alexis veins like a heavy wave of fire. How much she hated domestic violence. She would never understand why this was even possible and how such bullshit could produce in a person's fucked up brain.

At this moment Alexis didn't care that this wasn't her home, that she wasn't the leader of this community and that this was none of her business. She found herself lunging at the guy, smacking her bat forcefully into his back. He went down with a grunt because she hit his spine hard. The woman shrieked and stared at her savior wide eyed.

"Go."

Alexis hissed, but unfortunately the way too young woman, she was definitely younger than Alexis, didn't listen. The guy jumped to his feet and immediately attacked the leader. He tried to get her weapon out of her hands. But she was prepared for such situations. With ease, she ducked the attack and rammed her elbow into his stomach before landing a delicately aimed kick into his balls which send him down again.

She lunged her back out again, her rage making her blind to the consequences. Another well placed hit on his head or a cut through his throat with a knife and he would be dead. He deserved it.

But Negan would kill her for it. Or one of her people. She was a mother and a leader, she couldn't be selfish in this.

She was about to lower her bat, but before she could do it, her wrists were grabbed from behind and then she was face first in the wall. Simon's tall frame pressed into her and his hand squeezed until she dropped her bat.

"Are you stupid?!"

He hissed and loosened his grip. Simon didn't want to hurt her, but what he saw here had needed his interference. He too knew that Negan would punish her harshly for killing one of his men. It was a sensitive subject and Simon just had to stop her as he didn't want that for the girl. She was a good leader and adding to that she was a pretty decent person considering the fucked up world they all lived in.

"Isn't beating up women forbidden in here? Simon, he hit his girlfriend or wife or whatever the hell she is. Do you recommend me to just do nothing?"

Now of course the girl had vanished. Her dickhead of a boyfriend still laid on the floor pathetically whimpering.

"You seriously should cut your goddamn confidence. In here, you're aren't queen, you're nothing! If Negan finds that out he will..."

"What will I do, Sy?"

Simon flinched when he heard Negan's voice from behind him. Immediately he stepped away from Alexis who still glared at him out of her terrifying blue eyes. The right hand men pressed his lips into a thin line, trying to hide his anger. He knew his answer wouldn't matter, but he also knew that Negan hated it if his questions were ignored. His leader was already deadly calm, which never was a good sign. Poking this already lashing out bear wasn't the smartest idea.

"I think you'd iron her."

Alexis had no clue what Simon meant by ‚iron'. It caused a frown to wrinkle her forehead as Negan shuffled closer. He grabbed her chin roughly and Alexis felt the urge to kick him away. But she was smarter than that. Instead she bravely stared into his dark eyes, balancing on the fine line between disrespect and restraint.

"Oh no, I never in the fucking hell iron such a fuckingly pretty face."

He threw Simon a glance over his shoulder that dismissed his right hand man. Simon roughly pulled up the guy Alexis defeated that easily and walked off.

In the mean time, Alexis lips lightly parted to catch her breath. The adrenaline was slowly vanishing from her organism and she felt the pain of her injuries gaping open again. She surely had pulled the stings out, she literally could feel the blood seeping through the gauze.

"Now what will I do to you now? Seriously, Lex, you're making it freakily-freakedy hard for me."

Her eyes never adverted and Negan had to admit that he was impressed. He hadn't seen someone that brave in quite a while.

"Well, you could start by saying thank you because I caught one of your guys breaking your rules. That abomination deserved it."

Negan chuckled and pressed his lean body even further into her to invade her personal space. Not that she would give him the satisfaction on reacting on it.

"That might be true and he'll get his punishment...hell, I mean he really looked like you kicked his balls up to his goddamn ugly throat, but I won't let this shit fly. But you, doll, sure as hell overstepped your fucking responsibilities."

His voice raised for the last part and he leaned his head even more to be directly into her face. Alexis had to control her trembling. She wasn't shaking a fear, but out of pain because of her ripped open wounds and this big dick in front of her didn't even notice. Her even more stupid pride didn't allow her to make a sound.

"You aren't queen dick around here."

Now his lips were close to her ear, whispering.

"Just go fuck yourself, Negan."

She hissed with the last of her strength. Slowly, she slumped against his chest. It was then when Negan noticed that something was wrong with her and frowned. His brain was filled with anger because Lexi had dared to question his authority again, but slowly the memory of her being injured seeped back in.

"You need to get to doc."

Suddenly, every inch of anger was gone and he sounded more worried. Quickly, he looped his arm around her small waist and pushed her back down the hallway. She was limping and holding her side, still to proud to fully lean her weight on him.

"Take...your...filthy hands...off me."

Negan just rolled his eyes. Her voice was weak as she fought the pain hard.

"Oh darling, they can get far more filthy, you just have to ask."

He covered the tensed situation with his wit. Of course he wasn't done with her on this topic now, but for now she needed his help first.

"I'm fine...don't need to see the doc."

"Yeah, sure. I'm all in for you minding your own shit, but I have a fucking problem with your guts falling out and staining the floor."

The doc's office was in the cellar, which was quite the way if Alexis kept living around like this. When they reached the stairs, Negan had enough and lifted her up with her heavily protesting. This girl seriously was as stubborn as he was himself. That was particularly rare.

Blood already seeped through her shirt when they reached the office. Doc was busy with some guy with a sprained ankle or something, but he shooed away before Negan could lay eyes on him.

Fortunately, it looked worse than it was. Her pain must be unbearable, but doc stopped the bleeding quickly and gave her pain meds that let her fall asleep quickly.

Stunts like this would eventually get her killed, Negan was sure of it. Alexis was highly intelligent and had the same ability to read people as Negan had, but she struggled to adapt in place where she wasn't boss. Her whole personality was made to lead people. It made Negan wonder how she got along in the world before shit went down.

Half an hour later, the leader of the Saviors had carried the girl back into her room and placed her gently down on her bed. She barely moved, those meds kicked in like a bitch. Her full lips were slightly parted as she slept, her hair messily around her pale doll face.

Negan looked down her and sighed. His whole body was urging to finally make him his. He honestly hoped that screwing her once would kill the thrill of the hunt and his obsession with her would fade. But it wasn't just his dick doing the thinking. There was a part in him that wanted to protect this disrespectful troublemaker in front of him.

He wanted to kick himself in the balls for even sparing more than one thought about her besides from fucking and politics. With a scowl on his face, he left the room.


	10. Chapter 10

Negan didn't go to the nursery often. He just didn't have anything to do with the kids in the Sanctuary and he didn't want to lurk around like a creep. Of course most of the children were scared shitless of him anyway. Well, Kitty seemed to be the only here that actually liked him.

He had been amazing with kids before the apocalypse. Some of Lucille's cousins had children, they often brought them around when the family came together for Thanksgiving or Christmas and Negan spend more time with the children than with the adults. Maybe it was because deep inside her always had been a little boy.

To be honest he didn't really know why he and Lucille never had children. His wife always wanted them, but Negan never felt ready to be a father, be responsible for something. It was ironic that he always had problems to really be in charge of something, considering he was now king dick of every shit. Even as a teacher he never behaved as a role model. He sweared like a sailor which may have made him the cool teacher, but also brought him a lot of trouble. But he also kept out of most school activities and never did encourage himself to do any bit more than asked of him. Maybe he didn't know who he really was at that time, or he was just lazy as fuck.

Now he knew exactly who he was and he loved it. He probably was the only lunatic around that found his true nature inside the apocalypse. Hell, he lived better now. Negan was just one of the persons that took advantage out of every situation. He rose from a nobody to someone who was respected by his people and feared by many other.

Alexis was just this piece of the puzzle he couldn't figure out. The trouble she already caused was huge and she clearly didn't know who was in charge here. But still he couldn't bring himself to properly kick her ass. He just wasn't able to break her. She had this kind of resistance and stubbornness inside her, that made her both a threat and a strong ally.

He could just let her go. Let her do her part of the alliance and collect shit for him. But now he was spoiling her with everything he had to offer and walked around his home to pick up her kid like a fool. It was his dick making decisions, which never was ending well. There was something about her that turned him on like fire poured directly onto him. He wanted her with every fibre of his body and the fact that she seemed so unfazed by his attempts made the game even more hot.

Quickly he pushed the thoughts of her away before his pant snake could distract him too much. Grinning, he continued on his way towards the kindergarten. He frowned a little when he saw that the door to the room where the kids should be was open. The girl who should take care of them was nowhere to be found.

Negan could hear the children argue, Kitty's high pitched voice prominent between boy's laughter. They held her toy car away from her and the small, stubborn whirlwind yelled at the stronger boys and tried her best to get her toy back. Negan had to admit that he was pretty proud, the little girl fought savagely, it reminded him strongly of her mother.

Smiling to himself, he decided to interrupt the situation and teach those boys a lesson. He put on a cold expression and propped up Lucille against his shoulder, knowing that he would look pretty terrifying for the kids.

He whistled his signature tune and when he sat a foot in the room, the boys flinched and gasped. Just on Kitty's face a wide smile spread. She shot the boys a winner look, something she too inherited from her mother.

"Don't you little cunts know how I handle thieves?"

Negan stared the boys down, his voice calm. They shivered in fear and looked like they were about to piss their little boy pants. The boys nodded, implying that they knew. But Negan wouldn't let them go that easily. From the corner of his eye he saw that Kitty tried hard not to jump up and down in excitement.

"You have to speak up, I didn't quite catch that."

He crouched down in front of them so he was eye level with them. Lucille was leaned against his knee making sure those little bullies saw her beautiful, shiny barbed wire.

"Yes, we know...Sir."

They mumbled in unison. The guy who had stolen the toy quickly handed it back to Kitty. Negan chuckled and stood back up.

"Next point. Kitty, do I tolerate bullies?"

He looked down to the girl that kinda had him wrapped around her little finger. A shit eating grin was on her cute face. She was a good student.

"No, you don't, uncle Negan."

Pointing with Lucille at the lowered heads of the kids he continued.

"So, what will you do now after freakin' disrespecting a little lady?...Tick tock, no, not anybody? I'll help ya. Fucking apologize!"

He raised his voice for the last statement and the boys flinched. They mumbled their apology and Negan grinned satisfied. Hopefully they had learnt their lesson. The leader didn't even want to know what kind of fucks their parents were if they raised their kids to bully others. Negan wouldn't let such shit fly.

From behind him he heard another gasp. The girl that was supposed to handle the kids just came walking into the room, not knowing what kind of guest she had. Her eyes were wide and she dropped the blankets that she carried here.

With a grin Negan turned on his heel and leaned back chuckling. He held his hand out and Kitty immediately hopped to his side, wrapping her small hand around his long fingers.

"I...I...just um...it's nap time and I was just--getting blankets for the kids. I...I'm so sorry, boss."

The tiny woman nearly pulled her head in between her shoulders, she looked freakin terrified. She wasn't a day older than eighteen and was obviously quite insecure.

"And in that time no one's watching those little fuckers?"

"Language, uncle Negan."

Kitty chuckled perfectly imitating her mother's tone. Negan nearly bursted out laughing, but he had to concentrate on the young woman in front of him. She had a hard time speaking and her gaze flickered between her leader and the girl that held his hand confused. Of course she didn't see the relation between them.

"No, um, I'm alone up here."

Furrowing his eyebrows a little, he inspected the room more closely. The were some toys and puzzles in here, but all in all there wasn't much for the children to play with and it also wasn't good that just one girl was watching the kids. If he remembered right she got ten points a day.

"Well, that is a fucking shame. I'll take care of that."

Her eyes widened again in surprise. She probably thought that he would bash her head in or iron her immediately. A perfect example of how important it was that he was feared. Like that he could surprise his people with his generosity.

"Th--Thank you, Negan."

Maybe he should make them call him 'your highness'. It would be hella funny.

Flashing his pearly white teeth, he grinned and walked out with Kitty proudly walking by his side.

After threatening the already shaking girl at the nursery with Alexis' bat, she spilled that Negan already picked up Kitty. Alexis took a deep breath, not sure if she should be angry. In the end she figured that she should let it go. Negan for once seemed to mean well. She just hit one of his people's ass up, she should actually be relieved that he let that slip.

She found them in Negan's room. They laid outstretched beside each other on a carpet and they were playing around with the toy car he gifted her. The door was slightly open, so Alexis silently pushed herself in between and leaned in the doorframe, watching the adorable scene for a moment.

Alexis wondered if he had been a father before. He acted so natural around Kitty and he was amazing with her. But it seemed like her daughter captured a part of the usually so ruthless leader's heart.

"Wanna join, sweetheart? I'm just teaching her about cars."

He must've noticed her already as he spoke directly to her. Alexis chuckled slightly and stepped further into the room, sitting down next to her daughter while holding her injured side. Kitty immediately climbed onto her mother's lap and wrapped her tiny arms around her, to which Alexis smiled happily.

"How are you feeling?"

Negan's gaze wandered up and down her body, checking for anything obvious. There was some color back in her cheeks, but she still looked slightly exhausted.

"Fine. I hope she didn't bother you too much."

She lightly ruffled Kitty's hair and her daughter giggled. Getting bored of the adult talk quickly, she hopped over to Negan's desk and climbed onto the stool. On the surface of the desk were papers and some crayons and the child started her creative work. It made Alexis wonder where the hell the Saviors scavenged stuff like this.

"Oh, never. She's freakin' lovely. You have a gorgeous little girl, Lexi."

Pride let her heart swell when Negan said those words genuinely. It was the brightest smile he ever saw on her face and he felt the urge to see it more often.

"Don't let her hear that, it'll go to her head."

Negan bit his lip conflicted and looked over to the little girl. He had no clue how to tell a mum that her child had been bullied, especially by kids of his community. Those were these humane things that he thought he would never have to bother with again. Even in school he never was the social type, his students always were too exhausted or feared Negan too much to pull any stunts.

"Lex, um, I don't know how to tell ya, but some of the little fuckers in the kindergarten, they were freakin' mean to her. I taught them their lesson, believe me, but maybe you want to talk to her about it."

Alexis sighed and her gaze also adverted to her little girl. She pushed her hair back, her beautiful face clouded with worry.

"She's not good with other children. It's the same at home, I let her stay at the nursery as little as possible. She likes adults more, sometimes she seriously scares the hell out of me by being so...grown. Well, she grows up into a fucked up world, I myself am crazy as hell, so I probably can't expect her to just be a normal kid. But it's what I always wanted for her...unfortunately it's one of the things I can't give her."

The young woman looked back up again at Negan. His expression turned serious, but not in a dangerous way. They were finally having a conversation that wasn't filled to the brim with his inappropriate sarcasm.

"You're doing hell of a good job, Lex. Don't tell yourself shit. She's an amazing kid, which is a fucking surprise considering she was born into motherfucking hell on earth."

Alexis chuckled slightly because his mixture of a genuine statement and his usage of swear words was hilarious. But she also had to hold back tears filling her eyes. This was a very sensitive topic for her, the only thing she could cry over. She had spent nights pathetically sobbing because her daughter, her life essence, was born into a world like this. It was the worst feeling for a mother to know that her child was in constant danger and the fact that she couldn't give her everything the world had to offer. When they arrived at their community it became better but it still wasn't fair.

Her dark thoughts were pushed away quickly when she noticed that they were still staring at each other. Then she felt Negan's rough fingertips brush against the back of her hand and she breathed in sharply. She got lost in his grey eyes and electricity ran through her. He was there for her and it felt good to have someone that understood her. Negan too was a leader, maybe even more ruthless than her, who had the weight of responsibility of hundreds of lives on his shoulders. Marcus always was there for Alexis, but he would never have this understanding she had with Negan now with him. And it simply felt good to know that there was someone who knew the hardships of the job.

It would've been natural to kiss him now, even thought her brain told her that it was a stupid idea. Negan seemed to look for something in her eyes, maybe it was permission, maybe it was something else. She couldn't tell.

Fortunately, just as Negan leaned in, Kitty stopped them from doing this.

"Mommy! Look what I painted!"

Negan cursed under his breath as they quickly moved away from each other. In contrary to Alexis, he didn't see any reason to why he should resist. He wanted her and usually he got what he wanted. Moments ago, he saw that the center of his attraction wanted it just as badly as him. But for some reason she still thought of it as a stupid idea. It continued that thrill, but it was still completely unexplored land for Negan. Usually women would spread their legs willingly the moment he laid eyes on them.

He knew it would slowly become an obsession. Not that he would show her. They were both so fixed in their roles, in their masks that they were to stubborn to give in. Alexis was afraid that an affair with him would undermine her leadership and she also swore herself to stay wary of this devilish handsome man. Negan on the other hand needed to prove to himself that she just was another trophy, nothing more than another good fuck.

Sighing, Alexis jumped to her feet and walked over to her daughter. She had to keep herself from rolling her eyes when she saw that Kitty painted herself, Alexis and Negan. It was ironic. But being a good mum, she praised her child for the amazing picture and kissed her forehead.

"What did Simon earlier mean by 'ironing'?"

She looked back to Negan in curiosity. The leader of the Saviors chuckled darkly. His usual grin was back on his face.

"Exactly what he said."

Alexis raised her brows and shot him a serious look, which amused Negan even more.

"If you want to find out, you're in for a fuck-fabulous treat. Follow me."

With a groan he stood up and walked towards the door. He would have to send Frankie to watch over Kitty while they were gone. This was something a kid sure as hell shouldn't watch.


	11. Chapter 11

Alexis looked back and forth between Negan and Kitty. Her daughter seemed distracted by her painting and Negan just rolled his eyes.

"I'll send someone here, don't worry."

Taking a deep breath, she felt like the worst mum ever. Here in the Sanctuary was even more adult business that wasn't meant for kid's eyes and Alexis had the feeling that she left Kitty alone too often. But her child didn't seem to mind. She loved the attention she got from everyone. And it seemed as if most of the Saviors were pretty decent people...or at least too afraid to hurt someone under Negan's protection.

"Where are we going?"

She shot Negan a suspicious look and he laughed.

"Don't ruin the damn surprise, darlin'. You'll fucking love it."

It didn't calm her one bit. Alexis trusted Negan to some degree but he was still a lunatic. Not that she was less crazy than him, but that way she knew how unpredictable someone like her could be.

They walked down side by side the long hallway until they reached the compound slash marketplace slash gathering room, Alexis didn't really know how to call it. Negan tapped Lucille against the railway to make the people aware of his presence. The mumbling immediately died down and everyone dropped to their knees.

Alexis ignored the crowd under her and scanned the room for something unusual. The huge oven gleamed of the fire it contained, Simon knelt next to it with a long pole in his hand. But even more strange was that someone was tied to a stool, the person's back facing them.

Long, greasy, dirty blonde hair dropped down to the prisoners shoulders and Alexis realized that this was Dwight. Frowning, she looked up to Negan who had a shit eating grin on his face when he saw that she figured something out, but not fully understood what was going on.

They stepped down the stairs and on the middle platform, he motioned for the other leader to stop. He leaned down to her and his lips brushed her ear when he whispered.

"Wait here. You have the freakin' best view on the show. Enjoy it."

He left Alexis even more confused while he jumped down the last stairs. She leaned on the handrail and saw that some people were staring up to her, including Dwight. Her icy blue eyes returned the gaze. The prisoner's eyes were filled with pain and fear. Sweat ran from his forehead down his face, but he tried his best to play brave and not show any emotion. He seemed to know what would happen to him. It must be pretty frightening, but for Alexis it would never be enough. For what he did she wanted him to suffer.

Dwight couldn't hold her hostile gaze for long, so his eyes trailed to Negan, who was grinning savagely at his former right hand man.

"To your feet."

Negan said, the amusement obvious in his voice. Simon nodded at Alexis greeting, before his attention shifted back to his 'boss' who started a speech. She didn't really pay attention to what he said and just watched his people while he spoke. Then again she noticed what kind of amazing strategist he was.

His voice went from calm, firm and deep to shouting in seconds and every time he grew louder, his people flinched, looking at their leader with this mix of fear and admiration. It was fascinating to watch, especially because she was one of the few people that didn't show any emotion to his mind control games.

But all in all his speech wasn't meant to frighten his people, it was more to scare the one to be punished. The waiting, even tough he knew what would happen and hearing Negan ramble about him, would drive him crazy.

"...so let Dwight's face be a remembrance for him and for you all, what happens if someone breaks the rules. That's the only way we, the Saviors, can provide safety for you all."

He even cut his swearing low. Negan spoke like a king to his people and that was exactly who he was. A strong leader, someone who could guide this mass of people through these horrible times.

The man walked towards Simon and slid a huge glove over his hand and motioned for his right hand man to get him whatever he could retrieve with that pole. Alexis cocked a brow when Simon got an ancient flatiron out of the oven and handed it to Negan.

Everyone inhaled sharply as Negan strutted towards Dwight and the tension in the massive hall was thick.

"Good fucking choice to come back, buddy."

He chuckled and Dwight looked up to him with fear in his eyes. But he didn't plead for Negan to stop, he didn't insult him, he just stayed quiet and waited for his punishment.

Before he started what he was about to do, the leader adverted his gaze to meet Alexis'. He stared her into the eyes and flashed his white teeth when he smiled.

Then, all of a sudden, Negan pushed the iron onto the side of Dwight's face. Most of the people let out some disgusted noises or mumbled, but Alexis didn't move a muscle. She didn't show any emotion, she just stared down and watched.

Alexis felt watched while Negan pressed the iron to Dwight's face and for a short moment, her eyes fell onto Sherry. She hadn't seen the woman that nearly killed her since she was in the Sanctuary, but now she stood there, wearing a tight black dress and heels, among women that looked the same. The woman had countless emotions in her gaze as she looked up to Alexis, the strongest being hostility. She blamed her for ruining their shitty plan.

A small, cruel smile tugged on Alexis lips while she stared back. It wasn't even close to what she would've done to them, but it was the slightest bit of sweet revenge. She had to admit, it had a nice touch that Negan made his newbie wife watch what happened to her traitorous ex. It didn't made up for him pardoning her for his own, pathetic advantage.

"Oh wow, he didn't even piss himself. Spares us a lot of hella disgusting trouble. Thank you Dwighty boy."

Negan padded the passed out man's shoulder and walked off.

...

Alexis walked back to her room, but was disturbed by the sound of heels clicking against the floor behind her. Someone who was fatally lacking stealth was following her and she knew exactly who it was. She gripped her bat tightly and leaned it against her shoulder.

"You have some nerves following me, Sherry."

The footsteps immediately stopped and Alexis turned around. Sherry was standing a few feet away from her, a cautious expression on her face, eyeing the weapon in the other woman's hand. She was very right to be careful, right now Alexis was a time bomb, barely containing herself.

It was nearly pathetic how both women differed. Sherry with her flashy neglige, make up and well placed hair, while Alexis wore her usual boyish clothing, her dark waves flew freely around her shoulders. But the most striking difference was that Alexis was very confident with herself. Her icy blue eyes bore into Sherry and the woman was obviously afraid of the leader.

"I wanted to apologize."

Sherry's voice was low, her eyes adverted to the ground. Alexis smiled amused and even chuckled slightly to disrespect her fully, but it didn't reach any true emotion.

"Well, congratulations on nearly making a little girl an orphan. Do you really think your apology means anything?"

Negan's newest wife flinched at her harsh tone.

"We did what everyone's doing: trying to survive."

Finally, she brought up some guts and looked Alexis in the eyes. She played with her bat in her hand and strutted closer to Sherry.

"Excuse me, darling, but why did you risk your arse by fleeing in the first place? Negan's powdering your fine asses all day, you have the protection of a large group and if you aren't completely silly, you know that you can't survive in a group of two for long."

Alexis made sure to over-emphasize her British accent to make the other woman feel even more stupid and below her. She pushing Sherry's buttons, waiting for her to flip the switch. If she attacked, she could defend herself and that was exactly what she was getting at.

"My sister..."

The leader lifted a hand to stop her from speaking any further.

"You see where this got you sister. She's dead now, all because you just couldn't stick to the rules. We all know that Negan's a lunatic and I am, too, but you know what we have in common? We establish rules to grant survival. Human's are flawed creatures and nothing works without a system."

Alexis circled her like she way easy prey.

"What Negan and I don't have in common is that I don't forgive. I don't let such shit pass by fucking whores. I don't trust anyone who backstabbed me once."

Now she stood close behind her and whispered in her ear.

"But I think you know very well that this is all your fault. Negan put it quite right: Let his face be a reminder."

Sherry clenched her fists, tears swam in her eyes. Maybe she wouldn't attack her, but Alexis still reached her goal. The girl was starting to break, she could blame Alexis on her failure all the way she wanted, but she would always know that it was a lie, that she herself is the one to blame and Alexis would remind her of that every day of her miserable life, her face would haunt her in her dreams.

"Unfortunately I can't do anything in here. I'm a guest and I'd like to keep the peace. But I want you to know, whenever you're stupid enough to leave these walls again, I'll find you and I'll kill you."

She was absolutely serious with that. Sherry nearly killed her and that was something Alexis would punish by death. Not because of her ego, it was because of Kitty. To be honest she didn't care much about her own life, but she knew that Kitty still needed her. Of course she risked it often enough by simply being a leader, the job brought a target on her back, and now by helping Negan, but that was something she couldn't change. But other people trying to end it before Kitty could survive on her own were something Alexis wouldn't accept.

With a smile on her face, she left Sherry standing and continued to walk towards her room, but of course Negan already waited for her in front of her door. He had a scowl on his handsome face and Alexis rolled her eyes.

"Haven't I been fucking clear about you, walking around and threatening my people? Especially my wives."

Of course he heard it. In here Negan knew everything. But what she said to Sherry wasn't a secret, she expected that the woman would run to her 'loving husband's' arms and tell him everything. She also knew that Negan wouldn't let that fly.

"Haven't I been fucking clear that I don't care?"

She wanted to go inside, but suddenly Lucille crashed into the wall beside her. Alexis didn't even flinch, but shot Negan a death glare. He returned it and a staring duel added to their giant pissing contest.

"You, sweetheart, should be fucking grateful that I saved your fucking hot ass."

Negan growled and leaned down, their faces were inches apart.

"You know who should be grateful, too? Your lovely wife and her idiot of an ex. Are you seriously letting them stay under your roof?"

The leader of the Saviors let his bat sink down to his side, his lips pressed into a thin line.

"Don't meddle in my fucking business, Lex. I don't care what you think."

Strangely, this gave her a pinch into her heart, but she ignored it.

"Oh, well, but I do care what you think because we are in freakin' alliance and if you fall, I fall. And right now I see that you're letting your cock do the thinking."

His signature smirk came back to his face and Alexis had to admit that he simply looked so sexy when he smiled. It was such a boyish charm, but combined with his salt and pepper beard, which invited her to run her finger through, it drove her crazy.

"It's fairly big cock, so..."

Alexis sighed and slapped his arm. Thankfully, the violent atmosphere vanished and was replaced by their usual playfulness. It was strange how these two could shift from being deadly serious to joking within seconds. No one would ever understand that.

"You aren't even close to being funny."

She said dryly, which made Negan laugh even more.

"I'm hilarious and you know it."

"Just shut the fuck up."

Alexis wanted to finally go back to her daughter, but Negan again stopped her by placing his hand on hers before she could push down the handle. His large hand covered hers completely and she looked up to him frowning confused.

"You know what I can't the fuck get? You just saw me freakin' ironing someone's skin off his face and you just stand up there and smile like a lunatic, but you get upset because of my choice in women?"

Their gazes met again and locked. There was something unreadable on him, these rare seconds of when she thought she could get a glimpse behind the mask he wore all day. But whenever she was about to see through him, he shut himself away again. Usually she was so good at reading people but Negan perfected this task.

"Seems like I'm as crazy as you are."

A small, genuine smile tugged on his lips.

"Which makes us hell of a team."

Shortly, he squeezed her hand before distancing himself again and walking off whistling his signature tune.


	12. Chapter 12

The Sanctuary kept a ridiculous kind of luxury for these times. There was everything a human could need. Sometimes it nearly felt like before the apocalypse. Alexis could understand why people wanted to be here, especially if they could be a Savior.

Still, this place was starting to rob Alexis of any sleep. With the days of being a here, a certain kind of electricity built up inside her, an energy that needed to be let out. She felt so trapped in here, she needed air, she needed to roam the woods, have a task.

Negan made it quite clear. In here, she was nothing. And even though she could've used this time to be with her daughter and learn about this fortresses' weaknesses, she hated it her.

At least Kitty seemed more peaceful than anywhere. She seemed to love it here and she adored Negan, which was potentially dangerous.

But the biggest problem was that Alexis herself slowly seemed to grow a liking into the Savior's leader. He robbed her off her last nerve and sometimes she wanted to simply punch him in his face, but that was the thrill about him. She lied to herself for days, but her body told a different story. Alexis was heavily attracted to Negan, which was another thing she hated.

She wanted to loathe him so badly, but she couldn't. He couldn't be trusted and he would probably be her downfall. Their alliance stood on a shaky ground and they both knew it. It was only a matter of time until he would screw her over.

Alexis silently stood up and rushed into the bathroom to not wake a soundly sleeping Kitty. She splashed some cold water onto her face and looked up into the mirror and sighed. Deep, dark blue circles were under her striking ice blue eyes and her skin was even paler than usual.

She was wide awake and she knew that there wasn't any sense in going back to bed. There were some books in the room, but she knew she would wake her daughter if she turned a light on and Kitty really needed her sleep. This little girl had went through so much in her young life, Alexis owed her to do her best and keep her healthy.

So a walk through the factory had to do the trick. Alexis knew how to be silent, like that it wasn't hard to grab her bat and get out of the room without waking her little girl.

The young woman roamed around the empty hallways, barely meeting some Saviors who were standing watch. It took her a while to find the massive front that consisted of windows. From the outside it looked abstract, nearly foolishly breakable considering the times they lived in.

From the inside, it felt like a prison. She could look outside, but she couldn't just get on her horse and go. Alexis was thankful that Simon and Negan saved her, of course, but right now she wanted nothing more than to get home.

The surroundings were dimly lit by the light of the full moon and she also could see the flashlights of some guys that patrolled outside. She placed a hand on the glass of the window in front of her and simply let the coolness of the material give her comfort.

One more night and the week was over. She would go home everything would go back to normal. At least she hoped so. Alexis needed to stop Negan from getting influence on her, she couldn't let him take over her community. Actually she would see that as a good idea and knew that they could be stronger if they were another outpost, but Negan wouldn't tolerate a strong ruler like her beside him. Either he'd kill her after a while, cast her out or she had to subordinate and that was something that wouldn't happen.

Pride was the thing that stood in their way to create a even more thriving community.

"Can't sleep?"

Of course he had to show up. Negan always had the best timing. She sighed, but didn't turned around to face him.

"Yeah. Walking helps me clear my mind. What's your excuse?"

He took some steps forward, coming to a halt right next to her. She felt his gaze on her, but she didn't let herself be bothered by it, even if his gaze obviously had an effect on everyone. It could make people shiver in fear and squirm uncomfortably when stared through someone like that. But Alexis wasn't afraid of him and he knew it.

"Shit needs to get done."

Now she ripped her gaze away from the dark nature around the Sanctuary and looked up to his face. He really looked tired, but there was the same hint of being restless that Alexis felt inside her so prominently.

Negan sighed and ran his hand over his salt and pepper beard.

"Come on. Wanna show you something."

Alexis lifted her brows but chose to follow him when he walked ahead without waiting for her to answer. They climbed countless stairs and Alexis smilingly thought back to herself before the walkers came. She wasn't the fittest and she hated every sport except horse riding, which brought her some killer curves, whose have faded mostly due to starving a lot. Fortunately her body still wasn't flat, but it changed a lot. Her husband had always mocked her because she panted every time she climbed up some stairs. He had been the sporty type and it had annoyed the hell out of her. Problems had been a lot more simpler.

At the top of the stairs they reached a metal door and Negan pulled out a set of keys and unlocked it. He held the door open for her and dramatically motioned for her to step through.

"After you."

"You can stop that fake- ..."

The words faded in Alexis's throat when she felt the cool night's breeze on her face. Her lungs literally sucked in the fresh air and her eyes widened in surprise when she realized that they were standing on the rooftop of the Sanctuary.

Enchanted by knowing that she was finally outside again, she walked closer to the edge, her bare feet tapping on the ground. The view was breathtaking. She could look all over the trees that grew around the old factory and could even see parts of the abandoned suburbs some miles away.

"This is amazing."

She whispered. Negan was suddenly surprisingly close behind her and hummed in response. Then, she felt something warm covering her shoulder and when she turned her head to see what it was, she saw that Negan had stripped off his leather jacket and placed it on her barely covered shoulders. Alexis only then remembered that she just wore shorts and a tank top.

Negan smiled amused when he saw the surprise in her eyes.

"If I'd known you'd be still up, I would've brought a beer. Or are you more the romantic date type?"

She snorted chuckling and shook her head. A bit of her usually rough surface faded and she allowed him a peek at the woman in her. At least what was left of her.

"It's perfect."

Smiling lightly, she slipped into the sleeves of his jacket and continued to enjoy the view and the fresh air.

"Have you been a freakin' girl scout? Never saw someone gettin' her panties wet because I'd get her some fresh air."

Actually, Negan was simply baffled by the genuine smile on her face. It wasn't the same that she had reserved for Kitty, but their was this certain spark in her eyes. She looked like a goddess in her shorts and his jacket and he shifted a bit to adjust himself. Hell, this view was better than anything else in this fucked up world.

"You're forgetting that I'm a Brit. We don't have scouts."

She winked at him and Negan's throat went dry.

"...But I've always been outside. You know, I've been a horse girl. Spend every minute at the barn and begged my parents to buy me a pony. When I came over the big pound I was crammed into a stamp sized shoe box and hell, you have no idea how much I hated it. After I married, the first thing we did was buy a farm."

His eyebrows raised at the amount of information she just gave him. Usually she was very restrained about her past. He took in the information of her being married before as quite the surprise, she didn't look like one of these girls that got married during college. She didn't look like a married girl at all. But how was he to judge? This shit changed people immensely. He seriously was curious about who she'd been before. Maybe he saw a glimpse of it right now.

Alexis stayed silent for a while and then she laid down on the floor, not bothering about the coldness radiating off the stone and stared up to the stars. Negan followed her motion quickly and placed himself closely next to her, their arms were nearly touching.

"Have you had kids before shit went down?"

She suddenly blurted and only afterwards noticed that this was way too personal. Usually she always thought long before she spoke, but tonight was different. Thankfully, Negan didn't take it as an offense.

"Why? Do I look like a daddy to you?"

He smirked smugly and turned his head so he could look at her. Alexis just rolled her eyes.

"You look like someone who can't keep his dick to himself...and you're amazing with Kitty, that's why I'm asking."

Negan's smile softened a bit when she mentioned Kitty and adoration lit up in his eyes.

"No, I didn't have kids. I simply like Kitty. She's bad ass."

They both laughed lightly and let the conversation die. None of them wanted to ruin the eased mood by digging too much into the rough topic up their lives before the apocalypse.

After a while, Alexis noticed Negan shifting slightly and she looked at him to see that a frown was plastered on his face.

"What is it?"

He then noticed that she was looking at him and sighed.

"Lex, um, you really shouldn't trust me."

She frowned in confusion and rolled to her side so she was facing him.

"I'm not stupid. Of course I don't trust you. I don't trust anyone."

The tensed mood broke when Negan suddenly chuckled again, his hand again stroking his beard. It seemed to be a habit of him. He expressed a lot through his movement, most of them being to intimidate people, but even he had some nervous habits.

Negan too shifted on his side and looked her in the eyes. Alexis noticed how close together they now where, their bodies were only inches apart and it seemed as if their beautiful surroundings were forgotten by both of them.

"That's how we survive. Trust will get anyone killed."

"Still, we expect our people to trust us."

She stated and looked at him, trying to see through the facade. His grayish eyes seemed a bit warmer than usual and he seemed to be relaxed around her, which was quite new.

"Let me tell you something, Lexi. People look up to us because we get shit done, not caring if it's easy or not. That's what most of these little fucking cowards can't do. They can't kill if it's necessary, they can't figure out a plan if shit's coming all the way raining down. We're survivors and they aren't. Because of that, they need a part of our fucking amazing survivor brain and they're willing to give up everything for it."

His little speech moved something inside her. He never ceased to surprise her. Behind this brutal, sarcastic bastard was an incredibly intelligent man. Negan had probably been just like her. She never had been excellent at something in particular, but she had knowledge of nearly everything around. Alexis was a practical woman, she knew how to do a lot of things instead at being an expert in one.

He was absolutely right. The world needed experts, especially to built up some kind of civilization, but they always lacked at least one important trait. People like Negan and Alexis were the ones filling these holes. They were charismatic, social, eager to learn and knew exactly how to fit into every field and be able to do a bit of everything. That's what made them survivors. But it also made them ruthless.

"Still, in the end, we're the ones that are leaving their humanity behind."

Something changed in Negan's face and it seemed like the last of the sarcastic facade fell for the moment. His hand reached out to her and caressed her cheek. She surprised herself by letting him.

"You wouldn't be where you are if you'd lost your humanity."

A smile tugged at Alexis lips.

"Says the big bad wolf."

He only chuckled lightly and his thumb touched her lower lip. His rough fingertips felt amazing on her skin and she closed her eyes for a second. When she opened her eyes again, his gaze flickered to her lips shortly and there was this particular expression on him that indicated that he badly wanted to kiss her. Alexis held her breath and it seemed like the world stood still.

But in the end they both breathed out again and smiled. Negan leaned his forehead onto hers and playfully bumped her nose with his. Then his hand wandered down to her butt, sliding down the curve to her thigh and to her knee. He pulled her a little closer and bend her knee so her leg laid comfortably on his hip.

"Hell, if you'd been at my school, I would've screwed you all day and would've declared it as a biology project to these little fuckers."

They both laughed again and Alexis allowed herself to be this close to him for once. She knew that it'd be back to normal tomorrow, they were smart enough for that. He was just so warm, he smelled of leather, man and even a hint of after shave and it simply comforted her.

"Who said that I'd allow you?"

He rubbed her thigh grinning.

"I just have a fucking feeling."

With that, they simply enjoyed each other for some moments longer, before going down into the building again. They both walked to their bedrooms and they knew that this didn't change much. But they both had gotten a glimpse behind the surface today and they received a better understanding of each other.


	13. Chapter 13

Alexis slowly got the feeling that Kitty didn't want to go back home. She loved it way too much here. In the morning something surprising happened: the little girl really asked her mother if she could spend the day at the kindergarten. That was something really unusual for Kitty. She usually always wanted to stick around with her mum.

But since Negan scared the kids at the nursery, she was queen dick among the little ones and she loved it.

Unfortunately, it gave Alexis time to think about last night. She tried to make herself believe that it didn't mean anything. But the way he looked at her...and how his rough hands were so gentle...It shook something in her. She enjoyed it, but she still couldn't allow herself to give in. Today must be different. Like nothing ever happened.

Sighing, she again stood at the windows and looked down, seeing that some trucks were lined up in front of the Sanctuary. Simon was going back and forth between the entrance and the vehicles, giving orders to the lackeys around him. It seemed like they were preparing for a supply run. She wanted nothing more than to go with them. But she knew that she had to ask Negan, even though every fibre of her body resented to ask for anything. Still, those were his guys after all and she for once could swallow her pride.

Maybe it would help her calm a little, she always focused on scavenging trips. Determined, she walked down the hallway. She allowed herself a tiny bit of pride by opening the door to Negan's room without knocking. But seconds later she noticed that this had been hell of a mistake.

Negan sat in front of his desk that was facing the door, which wouldn't have been unusual if there hadn't been this very special expression on his face. It immediately let Alexis know what he was really doing...or what was done to him.

When he lifted his gaze his lust filled eyes bore directly into hers and Alexis' throat went dry. His lips parted and for a second she could've sworn the thought of her watching pleased him very much. But then he groaned and looked down in front of him.

"Amber, get lost."

One of his wives rose from under the task and obeyed him immediately. As she passed Alexis, the young blonde winked at her provokingly. Alexis clenched her hands into fists and closed the door behind her, being quite speechless.

"You wanna continue or why can't you knock?"

He adjusted himself and stood while closing his belt. While Alexis blushed, Negan seemed very unfazed by the intrusion. This man really didn't know any limits.

"I wanted to let you know that I'm gonna go on that tour with Simon."

Negan raised his brows and stepped towards her. Again he directly went into her personal space and again Alexis wouldn't back the hell away.

"You're letting me know? How fucking generous of you. So, I'm letting you know, that this shit won't happen."

Her eyes were ice cold when she looked up to him. Negan was still so fascinated by these blue eyes. That was a whole new definition of intense. If he got the time, he would stare all day into them.

"I'm not asking, Negan. Anyways, you need every experienced person you can get on these runs."

He lightly growled and forced her to walk backwards until she was against the wall. Unfortunately he felt his still unsatisfied dick twitch in his pants when he pressed against her. This girl was driving him crazy. Especially because she was a fucking know it all and most of time she was right.

"Are we forgetting that you decided against being one of my guys? Which means you won't get to pick the fucking fun parts."

They fought a staring contest neither of them could win.

"We have an alliance, Negan. And I'm just trying to help, because sitting in here drives me crazy."

He huffed out a breath and on the inside, he already knew that there was no reason to force her to stay. She wasn't a prisoner.

"...by the way, could you please stop trying to show me the size of your dick by pressing it to me all the time? It's hella annoying and I'm not interested."

A playful spark shone in her eyes and Negan grinned widely. Of course he didn't back away an inch.

"Not interested, huh? Why can't I believe that?"

Alexis rolled her eyes and tried to push him away, but he just wouldn't move. Sometimes his showing of testosterone all day got way too much.

"Because you're an ignorant asshole."

He chuckled and his head lowered, until his touched the crook of her neck. Around him, her body was so traitorous. She sucked in a harsh breath and everything in her urged her to expose her neck to him so he kiss her sensitive skin. But fortunately, she carried a high degree of self control.

"Very fucking interesting."

Negan looked again at her intensely and just when Alexis thought the tension got too much, a knock on the door released her. The leader of the Saviors sighed and threw her one last heated look.

"Come the fuck in."

He barked out and a confused looking Simon was revealed.

"I can come back later."

The right hand man stated when he saw Alexis still leaning on the wall.

"Oh no, we just talked about you, Sy. Lexi here wants to come with you on the run, what do you think of that?"

Simon just shrugged, seemingly not getting the hint from his leader.

"Why not...if you're ok with that, boss, of course."

He added when he saw the scowl on Negan's face. It was obvious that Simon wasn't used to ask for permission, but he knew that it was cleverer if he wanted to stay in Negan's favor. But still Simon was one of the few that earned his place by being loyal and doing good work.

"Yeah, sure."

Negan growled and a small, cocky smile appeared on Alexis doll face. Oh, how much he would've loved to trash her cute little ass with Lucille right now.

"Why don't you come with us, Negan?"

That shit eating grin never faded from her face and actually he would've liked to get out and go with them. Negan liked to be on runs, it felt more productive than running this shit show sometimes.

"I'm busy being king dick, but thanks."

He remarked snidely.

"Yeah, very busy."

Alexis winked at him as she walked out together with Simon. She knew that she was walking on thin ice when she was this cocky with Negan, but she just couldn't help herself. And deep inside her she knew that he liked that about her.

"You do realize that I don't need a lunatic with a bat to survive out there, right?"

Simon said with an amused grin spreading under his prominent mustache as they hopped into the huge truck.

"Can never have enough of them."

They drove at top, so when Simon started to drive, the other vehicles followed suit.

"Where are we headed?"

Alexis asked as they passed the gate. It always had something relieving to escape the huge grey walls of the Sanctuary.

"Don't really know. We're heading out east and then we'll see what we find. We raided most of the closer places."

A worried expression darkened Simon's face shortly, it nearly was too short to notice. But Alexis was a good observer. She leaned back in her seat and thought for a moment when something came to her mind.

"There's an old distillery out west. I've rode there once, but figured we don't have the fitting vehicles to get enough people there to be safe. That's not the problem we won't face, right?"

Simon stared at her for a while, probably debating whether to trust or not. Trust was something to earned these times, but the Savior quickly came to the conclusion that she neither had a reason to backstab them, nor the numbers to take them out. Adding to that, he somehow trusted this girl. Since they found her community, she had been of quite the profit for them. She was highly intelligent, ruthless and a fierce leader, but also surprisingly honest.

Instead of answering, he spoke into his radio to let the others know where they were headed.

...

The distillery was easy to take over. There were just a few walkers roaming around the yard and they were easy to take out with nearly 20 other guys under her's and Simon's command. It was quite ironic that in the freaking apocalypse the flesh eating undead became the less life threatening force compared to other humans. If you were clever enough, it was quite easy to not get eaten.

Alexis took three men with her to look through the east wing. She clenched her bat tightly just to be ready to take out more walkers or even humans occupying the building. But it was quite quiet in here, which led her to the conclusion that the building had already been raided, which wasn't much of a surprise. She knew that there were some more communities around and the distillery wasn't small.

The shelves were all empty and the guys who followed her started to curse, which annoyed her heavily.

"Could you please shut up and concentrate?"

She hissed and the men flinched. Hopefully they knew that she wasn't to be messed with and didn't just obey because she was close to Negan. Rolling her eyes she continued on her way until she found another room which was empty. She sighed, but still had a closer look at it. There was an old, dirty carpet on the concrete floor and she frowned. It probably wouldn't have made anyone suspicious, but why was there a carpet in the middle of a distillery?

Carefully, she pulled at the ragged fabric and pushed it to the side, revealing something that looked like a wooden door. Her eyebrows raised surprised and she called for the men to help her open it.

A grin appeared on her face when the door came out to be an entrance to a cellar. She held her flashlight down and listened closely for a while, but didn't hear any walker growls or other noises except from some tapping little animal feet that sounded like mice.

There was a latter that led down to the cellar and Alexis was the first to climb down. Her eyes widened when she saw what was down here. There were dozens of boxes lined up neatly at the wall. With a frown, she stepped towards them and peeked inside them and then a hearty laugh escaped her throat.

"This is freaking booze! Get Simon here."

She ordered and muffled her laughter before she continued having a look at the boxes. Most of them were filled with bottles that looked like bourbon or something, but there was also a line of boxes that carried canned food, which was amazing. No one before probably had cared to pull the old dirty carpet away, which was very much in their favor.

"What's going on?"

Simon called out a minute later. He jumped down into the basement, his fix a mixture of shock and amazement when he saw what was down here. His mouth gaped open when Alexis held out a bottle of booze to him, grinning from ear to ear.

"Lexi, how on earth do we deserve you?!"

"Finally someone who sees that."

She chuckled, but then shrieked when Simon suddenly picked her up and twirled her around in excitement. They both laughed, relieved that they could bring something good home.

"I wanna kiss your tiny little feet. Can I kiss your feet?"

Combined with his mustache and his grey hair that stood out in all directions, he looked like someone who'd just escaped some asylum. It should make her worry that she actually felt comfortable around such people.

"If you want my boot up your ass, you can try."

He lifted his hands jokingly. But then his radio made some noises and he sighed before answering. Some of the guys standing watch outside told him that there were some intruders waiting for them. Simon and Alexis shared a short look before they both climbed up the latter again and told the others to load up the boxes in the basement.

When they reached the yard they saw that their men had surrounded three people. Their guns were raised pointed at the strangers' heads. The people looked heavily frightened and Alexis could've sworn they were shaking when they saw the girl with the bat and the tall madman beside her approach.

The five Saviors moved slightly aside so they could have a better look at them. It were two men and a middle aged woman, all wearing some kind of freaky looking plastic armor on them.

"They were sneaking around the fence, probably wanted to steal from our truck."

Simon inspected the strangers intensely, his face giving nothing away.

"I don't like thieves. Were you really stupid enough to try and steal from us?"

He crouched a little down to look the guy that stood in front of the others in the eyes.

"No. We wanted to see if we can find something in there."

The guys' voice was nearly a hiss and he motioned for the distillery. Anger and fear was written all over his dirty face. Alexis didn't like that look and Simon did neither.

"Pity that we were here first, right? What will we do with you now, huh? I'm all in for simply killing you little fuckers."

Alexis cocked a brow, surprised that Simon really was that quick to go for violence. It would eradicate a threat, right, but it wasn't the most intelligent solutions. The other Saviors were already un-securing their guns, but Alexis stepped forward and padded Simon's shoulder.

"My, my Simon, calm down, no need for violence here, am I right?"

Simon looked down to her, more surprised than mad. Slowly and relaxed, she swaggered towards their captives. She looked all of them in the eyes, but they all couldn't return the intense stare for long.

"Where are you coming from?"

Alexis tapped the chin of the front row guy upwards, so he was forced to look at her. But he only stared at her in didn't answer. She smiled coldly and pressed the bat into his throat.

"I asked you a question."

Her voice was deadly calm, the threat obvious. The guy kneeling in front of her swallowed, but the finally decided to speak.

"We're from the Kingdom."

Sanctuary, Kingdom...had all these arrogant douches an ego that reached up to the moon?

"Goodie. Now, darling, you take your people and go back home. Remind yourself of how generous we are. And send our regards to your leader...from the Saviors."

All three of them sucked in a harsh breath when she mentioned the Saviors. So they had heard of Negan and his people.

She could've asked them where the hell their place was, but they probably would've lied. So she simply would send two of their guys to follow them. Alexis didn't care much what Negan would do with this information, probably storm in there and ask for half their shit like he did to her community, but she knew that knowing where other communities were was the most valuable information in this.

Alexis turned on her heel and walked back towards the distillery, knowing that a dozen baffled looks hung after her.


	14. Chapter 14

It was close to sundown when they arrived back at the Sanctuary. The trucks were filled to the brim with the goods they scavenged today and everyone was in their best mood.

Simon didn't stop grinning the whole way back, he even whistled to some of the old rock coming out of the truck's dusty CD player.

Negan stood on the raised stage at the entrance of the old factory, watching as the trucks arrived. Kitty was propped up on his hip, while he held Lucille with his other hand. Alexis rolled her eyes when she saw the he had just taken her out of the kindergarten again. He seriously started to behave as if he was her dad. They had some talking to do.

After turning down the engine of the vehicle, Simon jumped out of the truck together with Alexis.

"Why haven't we found her earlier, boss?"

Laughing, he wrapped his arm around Alexis' shoulder as they walked towards Negan and Kitty. When Negan saw his right hand man touching Alexis and she not even attempting to shrug him off, a sour expression appeared on his handsome features.

The other leader had to bite her lip to suppress the amused smile on her face and concentrated on her daughter. Kitty reached out for her and smiled a toothy grin.

"Hey mommy!"

"Hi, Kitty."

Negan was busy staring Simon down until he withdrew his arm from Alexis shoulders, so she could lift Kitty up in her arms and hug her tightly.

"She let us to hell of a place."

Simon exclaimed, his excitement not dying down because of Negan's seemingly foul mood.

"Let me see what you've got."

His eyes flickered shortly to Alexis before he turned towards the trucks. Simon and Alexis followed him, watching as he hopped into the back of the large truck that carried all the boxes. He rummaged through some of them, inspecting the canned food before reaching the ones that had the good stuff in it.

Negan's back faced them, so they couldn't see his reaction when he saw the bottles of booze. Alexis felt Simon's tension beside her and rolled her eyes. Yes, he was a lunatic, but why was everyone so damn afraid of him?

Suddenly he turned around with a wide grin on his face, holding a bottle up vigorously.

"A-fucking-mazing is the understatement of the fucking year!"

A booming laugh came from from deep down his chest and some other Saviors turned around to have a look at what was going on. Alexis couldn't help but smile herself and Kitty also giggled at Negan's outburst.

"What's that, uncle Negan?"

Her daughter pointed at the bottle and Negan jumped down the truck, still chuckling and walked towards them.

"That, little girl, is happiness filled up in bottles."

He ruffled Kitty's hair and then pressed a long, inappropriate kiss to Alexis' cheek and squeezed her shoulders. His smile was breathtaking and it nearly took her off guard.

"I'm throwing a fucking party for you, darling!"

Negan suddenly shouted and his people started to cheer, knowing that it would be party night tonight. And they all loved Negan's parties.

He grabbed Kitty and pulled her out of Alexis arms, to which she frowned.

"We're going back to auntie Frankie now, Kit. Your mommy will have a good night today."

Kitty grinned and nodded. But before they could walk off, Alexis grabbed Negan's arm.

"Where do you think you're going? I don't want her around your b...girls."

She kept herself from swearing in front of her daughter last second. As if it would matter much with Negan around.

"Too late for that. Kitty and I got shit done today while you were gone, and it seems Kitty adores Frankie, too."

"Yeah, mommy, we got shit done!"

Alexis couldn't believe it when Kitty said 'shit'. She groaned and closed her eyes for a second to contain her anger. Negan's whole body shook of suppressed laughter. Yes, he was just the right influence for a little girl.

"...Anyways, you're going to pull that stick out of your ass tonight, and I don't think you want this little girl around when you're drunk. Lex, I promise you, Frankie will look out for her."

As if she would trust one of his wives with her daughter. But she probably didn't have much choice. If she was being honest, she could use some time of simply enjoy herself. At least she could count on the fact that the wives were too afraid of Negan to hurt his newfound little friend.

"You aren't her dad. You can't simply decide this."

She shot him a glare, but of course he didn't mind it at all and just grinned at her provokingly.

"You heard her, Lex. I'm her uncle now, that's enough."

He whistled cheeringly as he turned around an walked back into the Sanctuary.

...

Every Savior seemed to be in a rather good mood because of the party, even if just the special inner circle was invited. When Alexis entered the community room she understood why. Music blared out of speakers, not to loud to not attract walkers, but still the volume was high enough to create a party atmosphere.

There was also food, a pool table and lots of other games, but it was clear that it was all about booze tonight. People were already drinking and cheering when Alexis entered the room. But the most surprising thing was that everyone started to cheer when they saw her. Well, most of them knew that she was the one that found the booze stash.

Suddenly Negan came up from beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and shouted over the music.

"Welcome the girl of the hour!"

More cheering came up and Alexis lifted a brow to hide that she was quite embarrassed.

Never would she have imagined that she'd went to a party ever again. Before the apocalypse she never had been a party girl, but this seemed just the fitting atmosphere for her. She strangely felt comfortable around this people and there was so much booze around that it wouldn't take long until everyone passed out and did even more embarrassing things.

After Negan let go of her, she fell down next to Simon on an old, ragged sofa and sighed. He was playing poker with some other guys, whole immediately lowered their gaze when Alexis looked at them, to which she frowned.

"Rude."

She hissed as she leaned her bat against the edge of the piece of furniture. Simon chuckled and padded her thigh, before offering her a shot. He seemed to be quite tipsy already. Alexis rolled her eyes and drowned the shot without flinching.

"They're afraid to get kicked in the balls by you...or getting ironed for just looking at you the wrong way."

Simon's motioned with his head over his shoulder where Negan was dancing inappropriately with Amber. The blonde squeezed her ass into his crotch like there was no tomorrow.

Alexis just shook her head unbelievingly when their gazes met and some kind of anger flashed in Negan's eyes.

"Are you up for strip poker, Lex?"

Simon suddenly asked from next to her and she couldn't help but laugh. The other guys' eyes flickered shortly to her, but immediately lowered again.

"I'm not drunk enough for that. But I'll watch you guys."

The right hand man laughed and casually placed his arm on her shoulder.

"Hell, we should change that. Can't wait to see you all filled up."

He flirted and Alexis grinned. Of course she didn't want to get involved with Simon, but he was fun, so she just tagged along with it. She took the next shot and as the evening passed it became plenty more.

At some point she became some seductively grinning mess that took the shots straight from the bottle and after a while, she joined into the strip poker match. Oh, how she would regret all this tomorrow. But it simply felt so good to let loose for once.

Thankfully, she always kinda kept a clear head while being drunk, at least when it came to games, so while Simon and the other guys were already shirtless, Alexis was still fully dressed. But of course the time came where she had to take something off. Laughing, she made a show of it. A small audience had gathered around them. They all cheered when she slowly unzipped her lather jacket and took it off fully and let it fall to the couch. From the corner of the room she felt Negan's raging gaze on her. She just winked at him and sat back down next to Simon.

He placed a badly drunk, longing kiss on her cheek.

"Damn, you're so goddamn beautiful."

His mustache scraped against her skin and Alexis couldn't keep herself from laughing more. She couldn't remember the time she laughed that much.

All of a sudden, she had Lucille right in her face. The barbed wire nearly touched her nose, but Alexis didn't even flinch. Everyone around her sucked in a sharp breath as they shuffled away from their raging leader. The atmosphere dropped, even in this very drunk state they still all knew that they couldn't mess with Negan. Even Simon quickly retrieved his arm.

"You two fuckin' now?"

Negan growled. Alexis just looked up to him provokingly while standing up. The tip of the bat now rested against her collarbones, but she didn't mind at all.

"I don't fuck cowards. That's why I don't fuck you."

If the tension could even grow more, it did. Except for the music, everything was deadly quiet. Alexis wouldn't have said that if she was sober. But booze always had made her way too honest. Her tongue was faster than her thoughts, something that would usually never happen.

Negan glared at her with an intensity that made her heart beat faster. The barbed wire bore deeper into her delicate skin, until a point were he nearly drew blood. Her boobs were lifting with every heavy breath she took and it was hella distracting for him.

As fast as the anger came, it vanished and his face broke into one of his killer smiles. He chuckled to everyones surprise. The people let out their held breaths.

"Do you play darts, Lex?"

"If you want to embarrass yourself, yes."

Her eyes sparked and Negan's grin grew even wider. He wasn't a man to turn down a challenge.

Alexis pushed Lucille away and rose to her feet and stood closely in front of Negan. He smiled down to her, tension lighting up high between them.

The crowd of people parted for her as she walked towards the dartboard and picked up the darts.

"Ready to loose the last of your dignity?"

She rose her chin arrogantly and grinned when their audience reacted with a surprised hiss. They couldn't believe that she was that bold. Alexis probably was the only one who wouldn't let Negan win just to lick his ass and calm his ego.

Negan and Alexis didn't show any weakness due to being heavily drunk in the first rounds. They always landed the exact same score, so the game dragged on and no one could win.

After a while Alexis was close to winning, she just needed one last shot straight in the middle. The people around them loosened up slightly and Simon cheered for her jokingly, earning some glares from Negan. She really hoped that this wasn't a reason for him to bash his brain in tomorrow.

Alexis took position and aimed the dart, but suddenly she felt Negan's presence behind her. His mouth was close to her ear as he spoke, she could feel his warm breath tickling her sensitive skin.

"Takes hell a lot of fucking concentration, right?"

His gloves hand touched her thigh and his fingertips than ran up to her shoulder, sending a shiver down her spine. Some of the other guys mumbled and chuckled, but Alexis was fully focused on Negan and the dartboard. She concentrated on not letting her breath hitch and show him that she was affected by this.

"You sure you can do this?"

He asked and suddenly his tongue touched her earlobe. She nearly swung around to slap him, but she kept herself from it. Of course he wanted to have such a reaction coming from her. This was pure provocation, but a quite pleasurable one.

"Quit the foreplay, Negan. I always go straight for...climax."

With the last word she threw the dart and it landed exactly in the middle of the board. She grinned savagely and jumped up as the crowd started to cheer for her. Everyone, except for Negan. But he didn't look angry. He looked aroused which was even more dangerous. The leader grinned down to her and she cockily wrapped her arms around his neck.

"What do I get for winning?"

She whispered while Negan grabbed her waist. The alcohol seriously was doing things to her.

"You want a reward, darling?"

He suddenly smacked her ass laughing.

"...I have one. More booze."

Negan grabbed another bottle from a table and handed it to her.

The party grew more wild by the second, everyone was dancing, some people were heavily making out and in the middle of them were Negan and Alexis, drinking, laughing and having the time of their lives. Alexis could feel the wives' hateful glares on her, but she couldn't care less. She enjoyed this carefree, funny part of Negan and she also liked that for once she could let loose. For now she didn't have to hide that she liked him more than she should and it was amazing. No one would remember tomorrow. It would be a whole new day. She simply could be her embarrassing drunk self.

It was in the middle of the night when they, arm in arm, staggered towards their bedrooms. Some people still stayed and partied on, but Negan and Alexis noticed that it was enough of today. They were a giggling and deeply laughing mess.

Alexis came to a halt in front of her dorm, but Negan groaned and dragged her further on.

"Nooo, I need to sleep here...my daughter...she needs to sleep, too."

She laughed and steadied herself on Negan. There was a huge danger that they'd simply fall on the ground and fall asleep there.

"Your daughter shouldn't fucking see you like this, sweetheart. She'll be scared for the rest of her fucking life."

He drawled while pulling her with him.

"I'll carry you if you don't fucking come with me willingly."

Negan already dipped down to lift her onto his shoulder, but Alexis shrieked and pushed him away.

"I'll puke if you do this."

They looked at each other speechless for a second before they bursted out into laughter.

"Okey, darlin'. Be a good girl and come with me."

After rolling her eyes dramatically, she followed him, her arm still around his waist. When they reached the door to his bedroom, Negan fiddled with his keys and took ages until he opened his door.

Inside, they still bubbled with laughter as they stumbled to his large bed. Negan took off his shirt and Alexis alcohol burnt throat went even drier when she saw his naked chest for the first time. He was lightly tanned and fading tattoos covered his chest and arms. She would've loved to kiss every bit of it and explore him, but thankfully she still remembered that this wasn't a good idea.

Still, she opened her tight jeans and kicked them off before they both simultaneously fell into his bed.

"Why are you just so goddamn beautiful? It's not fair."

Her hands cupped his bearded cheeks, liking the feeling of how the rough hair tickled her palms.

"I wanted to say the fucking same."

Another laugh rumbled from deep down his chest and his hand caressed her bare thigh, pulling her close. Alexis cuddled into his chest and closed her eyes, simply enjoying the warmth and ease he radiated off.

They both didn't really know what they were doing here. But they could be sure that it would make things different, because the alcohol brought out what they've hid for some time. They liked each other more than it was good for them.


End file.
